Stone Throwing at Bilin Protest
Stone Throwing at Bilin ProtestIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The Bili'in-area security/separation fence is being dismantled, four years after the Supreme Court ordered the government to reroute the barrier and one year after an initial rerouting of the barrier and a first-stage replanting of trees.

Palestinian Authority Arabs, accompanied by Israeli and international leftists, have rioted nearly every Friday for years over the barrier, part of which was built to run directly through the village of Bili'in.

Once dismantled, the IDF will rebuild the anti-terrorism barrier at a cost of some NIS 26 million, and this time only 400 meters away from Modi'in Illit.

The new route enlarges the territory belonging to the PA Arabs in the area, according to the IDF Spokesman, and was “constructed with consideration to Palestinian opposition.”

In addition, NIS 5 million has been allocated to restoring the ground adjacent to the previous security barrier and preparing it for agricultural use.

In preparation for the move, the IDF has also been ordered to remove an entire grove of olive trees and replant them on the Bili'in side of the barrier. 

The construction of the security barrier was approved as a means of preventing suicide bombers and other terrorists from attacking Israeli civilians, as much as is humanly possible. The barrier is intended to run some 790 kilometers (491 miles) from north to south through Israel, separating the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories from the pre-1967 areas in some parts of the country where terrorism has been a major concern.