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Israel Tries to Bombproof Itself
By GREG MYRE Associated Press Writer
published 12:01 PM - JULY 05, 2002 Eastern Time
After 71 Palestinian suicide bombings in less than two years, Israel is attempting to make itself bombproof with an impregnable barrier between itself and the West Bank. (AP Graphic)
KFAR SABA, Israel (AP) _ On a leisurely morning in a sun-splashed square, Israelis sip Starbucks coffee under giant green umbrellas. Barely two miles away, the entire Palestinian town of Qalqiliya is under curfew as Israeli soldiers patrol the silent streets.
Between these two worlds, a construction crane groans as it hoists another giant slab of concrete into place, part of the 30-foot-high wall that is rapidly formalizing the separation.
After 71 Palestinian suicide bombings in less than two years, Israel is attempting to make itself bombproof with an impregnable barrier between itself and the West Bank.
"Before all the trouble, we didn't need a fence," said Ziva Schmidt, a Kfar Saba resident. "I thought there could be a peaceful solution. I used to go shopping in the Palestinian areas, and I felt safe."
Before the violence that erupted in September 2000, you could easily drive between Israel and the West Bank, often without realizing it. The dividing line is marked on road maps, but rarely on the roads themselves. Once the barrier of walls and fences is up, there will be no mistaking which side is which.
Israel intends it eventually to cover the entire length of the West Bank, a distance of about 215 miles. But the job, expected to cost at least $350 million, could take a couple of years, and right now, the focus is on the two most vulnerable patches _ the northern West Bank and Jerusalem.
A Palestinian attacker leaving Qalqiliya by car could reach the center of Kfar Saba in less than five minutes, or just walk here across the farm fields.
The two-story-high concrete barricade now runs for about a mile along a line just 100 yards from the Palestinian homes on the western edge of Qalqiliya.
As construction workers put the barriers in place, they are shadowed by Israeli troops and security guards, lest any Palestinians take aim from nearby homes. Similar walls are going up outside other Israeli towns close enough to the border to be targeted by Palestinian gunfire.
Much of the barrier will run alongside empty spaces, and will consist of an electronic fence with sensors monitored in a control room, said Izhar Dekel, general manager of Magal Security Systems.
The company's systems are in place along 95 percent of Israel's frontiers, and Magal is expected to be chosen to install the sensors along the West Bank.
Perhaps its best advertisement is its fence along the Gaza Strip. Although Gaza is a center of Islamic militancy, no suicide bomber has come from there.
Still, Palestinian attackers have found inventive ways to enter Israel, including hang gliders. In March, a pair of gunmen infiltrated the fenced-off Lebanese border and shot six people to death. It later emerged that they went over the fence using a ladder and chute and avoided touching it and triggering alarms.
Palestinians also have a demonstrated ability to dig tunnels under the Egyptian border and smuggle weapons through them.
Dan Schueftan, an Israeli professor, predicts Palestinians will try hard to show they can get through the barrier.
Still, "the positive elements of the fence far overshadow the negative ones," said Schueftan, author of the book "Disengagement," which argues that Israel should take unilateral steps to separate itself from the Palestinians.
"It will protect the major Israeli population centers," he said.
Private contractors are already at work on six different stretches of the fence, and expect to complete the first section of 70 miles within eight months, the Defense Ministry said.
At the same time, Israel is building a similar fence around three sides of Jerusalem _ north, south and east _ to cut the city off from the West Bank. That fence will eventually run about 30 miles.
Palestinians oppose it because it will cut into parts of the West Bank, which they want for a future state. Qalqiliya will end up almost encircled as the fence bends to accommodate Jewish settlements in the area.
"The main aim of this fence is to swallow more Palestinian land and to isolate the Palestinian communities," said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "is trying to impose his own borders," Abed Rabbo added.
Sharon reluctantly endorsed the fence, though his right-wing supporters oppose it because they see it as a border that will leave other Jewish settlements cut off and weaken Israel's claim on West Bank land.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer insists the fence "is not diplomatic. It is not political. This fence has one single goal _ to defend the lives of Israeli citizens."
An Israeli working on the wall, his well-creased face dripping with sweat, volunteered his opinion to a visiting journalist.
"You know what we should be doing with all this concrete?" said the worker, who gave his name only as Shimon.
"Building schools over there." He pointed toward Qalqiliya.
Editor's Note: This story was submitted to Israel's military censor, as required by the government, and deletions were made.
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