There is one major issue related to the "Security Wall" that is being totally ignored by the media and by Israelis.
Sure, the weaknesses associated with the idea of the "Security Wall" have already been well expounded. The Wall is too easy to climb over, dig under, swim around or blow holes in. Even worse, there is nothing stopping the Palestinians from shooting mortars, rockets and missiles over it. The Wall is much too close to the "Green Line", and signals Israel's willingness to capitulate and return to its 1949 "Auschwitz borders".
The Wall should, in fact, be a set of security cages, caging in the large Palestinian towns, while leaving the rest of the West Bank and Gaza as free range in which Jews live and move freely.
But all that is old hat. There is one other reason why the Wall will fail.
Suppose, hypothetically, Israel were to build a Security Wall 3,000 kilometers high, one that could not be dug under, shot over, nor could it have any holes blown in it. Just suppose.
Even then, the Wall would do nothing to stop the terror and carnage.
Why? Because the Wall does nothing if you let the terrorists walk into Israel through the gates in the Wall!
Israel's policy has always been to allow tens of thousands of Palestinian day laborers to enter Israel freely. Even after each terror bombing, a few days later the gates have been opened. The much-touted Gaza fence, supposedly a precedent and role model for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new "Security Wall", has failed to prevent the suicide bombers and other murderers from entering Israel for the simple reason that Israel just lets them waltz in through the gates.
Indeed, one part of Sharon's pledge to US President George W. Bush in the recent White House pow-wow was that Israel promises to continue to let the "day laborers" enter, no matter what. The US does not allow unrestricted entrance of day laborers from Mexico nor from Canda, but it wants Israel to agree to allow tens of thousands of Palestinians to enter Israel - no matter how many Israelis get murdered as a result.
So never mind that the Wall cannot stop a single Kassam rocket (Kassams were discovered this week in the West Bank; so they are no longer just a problem near Gaza, they can strike Ben-Gurion International Airport in Lod and they can hit Jerusalem).
The Chinese Wall failed. The Roman Walls failed. Sharon's Wall will fail.
The Security Wall is the latest Israeli attempt to find an alternative to Israeli military victory. There is no magic solution that can serve as an alternative to Israeli military control of the ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Everything else is wishful thinking and foolish belief in magic.
Sure, the weaknesses associated with the idea of the "Security Wall" have already been well expounded. The Wall is too easy to climb over, dig under, swim around or blow holes in. Even worse, there is nothing stopping the Palestinians from shooting mortars, rockets and missiles over it. The Wall is much too close to the "Green Line", and signals Israel's willingness to capitulate and return to its 1949 "Auschwitz borders".
The Wall should, in fact, be a set of security cages, caging in the large Palestinian towns, while leaving the rest of the West Bank and Gaza as free range in which Jews live and move freely.
But all that is old hat. There is one other reason why the Wall will fail.
Suppose, hypothetically, Israel were to build a Security Wall 3,000 kilometers high, one that could not be dug under, shot over, nor could it have any holes blown in it. Just suppose.
Even then, the Wall would do nothing to stop the terror and carnage.
Why? Because the Wall does nothing if you let the terrorists walk into Israel through the gates in the Wall!
Israel's policy has always been to allow tens of thousands of Palestinian day laborers to enter Israel freely. Even after each terror bombing, a few days later the gates have been opened. The much-touted Gaza fence, supposedly a precedent and role model for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new "Security Wall", has failed to prevent the suicide bombers and other murderers from entering Israel for the simple reason that Israel just lets them waltz in through the gates.
Indeed, one part of Sharon's pledge to US President George W. Bush in the recent White House pow-wow was that Israel promises to continue to let the "day laborers" enter, no matter what. The US does not allow unrestricted entrance of day laborers from Mexico nor from Canda, but it wants Israel to agree to allow tens of thousands of Palestinians to enter Israel - no matter how many Israelis get murdered as a result.
So never mind that the Wall cannot stop a single Kassam rocket (Kassams were discovered this week in the West Bank; so they are no longer just a problem near Gaza, they can strike Ben-Gurion International Airport in Lod and they can hit Jerusalem).
The Chinese Wall failed. The Roman Walls failed. Sharon's Wall will fail.
The Security Wall is the latest Israeli attempt to find an alternative to Israeli military victory. There is no magic solution that can serve as an alternative to Israeli military control of the ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Everything else is wishful thinking and foolish belief in magic.