Palestinian extremists are probably elated that the world now recognizes that Ariel Sharon?s government extended the security barrier in Israel to nearby West Bank settlements. It allows them to muddle the real issue: The Palestinians probably want no security barrier at all, because it will make a viable state impossible to function.
Recall that when the issue first reached the White House level, U.S. President George W. Bush was as clear as mud about his objections to the barrier. At the time, all that seemed clear was that the Israeli government was building some kind of barrier separating Israel proper from the West Bank. Right away, Israel-bashers were dubbing it the ?Apartheid Wall? and comparing it to the Berlin Wall. But steadily, Bush and the news media explained that Prime Minister Sharon?s government was including some settlements and even planned to extend the barrier far into the West Bank to cover the settlement of Ariel.
Sharon?s actions provided ready ammunition to the Palestinian side, which immediately accused Israel of building the fence in order to appropriate land on the West Bank that they considered to be theirs. They claimed that the barrier had nothing to do with security.
The truth likely falls in between. The barrier ? whether a fence or a wall ? has everything to do with security. Israelis clamored for the barrier to block terrorists from traveling from the West Bank to Israel proper, where they murdered many Jews and others in cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa and Netanya. Sharon did not want to build such a barrier, but when the current government took over, the wall was extended to protect West Bank settlements.
It should not be difficult to figure out why the Arabs fear such a barrier ? no matter where it is located.
If the day arrives that Israel decides the peoples must be separated and the barrier is made permanent, then just how can the Palestinians run what they would call Palestine as an independent state?
The West Bank is landlocked. Israel surrounds her on three sides and Jordan is on the other side of the Jordan River. The Palestinians cannot travel in or out. They will not be able to receive or send out supplies. They will not be allowed to hold jobs inside Israel and cannot visit relatives in Israel or Gaza. It is history already that Jordan has had its own problems with the Palestinians, and Jordan is not a wealthy country, anyway.
The barrier is something the Palestinians brought on themselves. They made war on a people whom they would have to live with if they lost, and now they?re whining about a barrier that is being built to prevent more Israeli deaths. I dearly hope that the tenuous progress that has begun will grow. I sense that the Palestinian Authority is making a serious attempt to build a relationship with Israel, but nearly three years and 3,200 deaths later, their efforts bear too much of a too-little, too-late quality.
It is obvious that Sharon and his core supporters are exploiting their opportunity with this barrier, but would they have had this chance if the Palestinians had not initiated this senseless war and murdered so many people?
As they say, what goes around comes around.
Recall that when the issue first reached the White House level, U.S. President George W. Bush was as clear as mud about his objections to the barrier. At the time, all that seemed clear was that the Israeli government was building some kind of barrier separating Israel proper from the West Bank. Right away, Israel-bashers were dubbing it the ?Apartheid Wall? and comparing it to the Berlin Wall. But steadily, Bush and the news media explained that Prime Minister Sharon?s government was including some settlements and even planned to extend the barrier far into the West Bank to cover the settlement of Ariel.
Sharon?s actions provided ready ammunition to the Palestinian side, which immediately accused Israel of building the fence in order to appropriate land on the West Bank that they considered to be theirs. They claimed that the barrier had nothing to do with security.
The truth likely falls in between. The barrier ? whether a fence or a wall ? has everything to do with security. Israelis clamored for the barrier to block terrorists from traveling from the West Bank to Israel proper, where they murdered many Jews and others in cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa and Netanya. Sharon did not want to build such a barrier, but when the current government took over, the wall was extended to protect West Bank settlements.
It should not be difficult to figure out why the Arabs fear such a barrier ? no matter where it is located.
If the day arrives that Israel decides the peoples must be separated and the barrier is made permanent, then just how can the Palestinians run what they would call Palestine as an independent state?
The West Bank is landlocked. Israel surrounds her on three sides and Jordan is on the other side of the Jordan River. The Palestinians cannot travel in or out. They will not be able to receive or send out supplies. They will not be allowed to hold jobs inside Israel and cannot visit relatives in Israel or Gaza. It is history already that Jordan has had its own problems with the Palestinians, and Jordan is not a wealthy country, anyway.
The barrier is something the Palestinians brought on themselves. They made war on a people whom they would have to live with if they lost, and now they?re whining about a barrier that is being built to prevent more Israeli deaths. I dearly hope that the tenuous progress that has begun will grow. I sense that the Palestinian Authority is making a serious attempt to build a relationship with Israel, but nearly three years and 3,200 deaths later, their efforts bear too much of a too-little, too-late quality.
It is obvious that Sharon and his core supporters are exploiting their opportunity with this barrier, but would they have had this chance if the Palestinians had not initiated this senseless war and murdered so many people?
As they say, what goes around comes around.