The Security Fence - Part II By Andrew L. Jaffee, February 3, 2004	Home   Search   Forum   Terms

Isn't it surprising (NOT!) that I found yet another article critical of the "security fence" Israel is building between itself and the West Bank. The January issue of National Geographic contained a short story about Israel's security fence. While it briefly mentions Israel's fear of terrorism, it concentrates mainly on the Palestinian side of the issue. But the article contained one very important -- damning -- piece of evidence of the fact that Jews are not the root of the entire world's problems. In a side-bar (print edition only), Geographic listed all the other places on Earth in which one group has attempted to wall off another:

Other Beefed-Up Borders

India-Pakistan India has been building an 1,800-mile-long fence to keep out Pakistani militants.

Kuwait-Iraq Kuwait has built 150 miles of border fences and berms.

North Korea-South Korea Two barbed-wire barriers sandwich the 2.5-mile-by148-mile Demilitarized Zone separating the countries.

United States-Mexico Roughly 60 miles of fence aims to keep illegal immigrants out of California.

Zambia-Angola Zambia is building a 620-mile border fence to keep out sick cattle from Angola.

Cyprus A 112-mile fence separates the Turkish from the Greek side.

Geographic doesn't even mention the fence India is building between itself and Bangladesh. So Israel is an "apartheid state" while the others are just "beefing up" their borders? How many people have even heard of fences in India, Kuwait, Zambia, or Cyprus? Go to any college campus and survey the students. What wall do you think they'd be willing to hold demonstrations over? Sophistry. Anti-Semitism. Call it what you like. I call it a double-standard.

Geographic trots out the new mantra of the extreme left: the "one-state" solution (i.e., the destroy Israel once and for good solution):

One potential consequence of the wall: It could fragment the Palestinians so much that it saps their aspirations for statehood. Even at this early stage of wall building, an estimated 30 percent of them say that, if they can't achieve independence, they want to be an integral part of Israel—a voting part. Because Palestinians are expected to outnumber Israelis in less than twenty years, that means the Jewish state could one day vanish in a hail not of bullets but of ballots.

What? Palestinians over-populate, and Israel will grant all of them citizenship? No way. The number of Palestinians has nothing to do with Israel's sovereign, democratic decisions. Once again, Israel is held responsible for the problems of the Palestinians. Palestinians haven't built a viable economy (they don't mind being paid to work in Israel). They haven't done anything to stop the terrorists that live amongst them so freely. They haven't started loving their children more than they hate Israel. What kind of parent would encourage their own child to commit suicide and murder -- and then get paid for it! They haven't held their "leadership" accountable for stealing U.S./European aid money that was supposed to improve their quality of life. In fact, most Palestinians support the destruction of Israel. Why would they suddenly have a change of heart and want to become Israeli citizens?

I don't know how much more nonsense I can listen to. As my astute partner here at netWMD points out regarding the fence:

Israel is a nation besieged. It has no choice but to protect itself. Since Washington will not allow Israel to fight a full-scale war (and let's be honest, the U.S. is fighting its war on terrorism with only one arm tied behind its back), then the tiny Middle Eastern nation has no choice but to take defensive measures since "offensive" ones would be deemed draconian. ...

Of course, I don't want to go out on a limb here. I mean, you wouldn't want me to just conjecture that a thriving democracy is not the sole and main reason for there being no peace when perhaps—if you'll bear with me for just a moment—the root cause of the hopeless conflict between Jew and Arab, as expressed in the Israeli/Palestinian war, yes "war," has much more to do with something that is often overlooked and bears repeating. It is this: TERRORISM!

Israel is building the fence so its citizens can get on a bus, have coffee at a cafe, or just walk down the street without fearing being blown to bits by some crazed Palestinian homicide bomber!