Following orders from the Israeli government, Israeli contractors
have been working hard for the last few months, setting up a
"security fence" to stop "terrorists" from penetrating into Israel.
They have finished building major parts of this fence around
"Greater Jerusalem" and along the Green Line that separates Israel
from the West Bank in areas such as Jenin, Tulkarem, and Qalqilya.
The fence has expanded to run beyond the 1948 borders of Israel,
internationally acknowledged until the Israeli occupation of the
West Bank, Sinai and the Golan Heights in 1967. Ariel Sharon's
government has confiscated extensive areas of Palestinian land for
this purpose, while the fate of other areas remains ambiguous. On
21 February, 2002, after his first year in office, Sharon announced
that the government's inner cabinet has decided - unilaterally, of
course - to establish "security buffer zones" between Israel and
the Palestinian territories.
Sharon has always refused the principle of "geopolitical"
separation between the two peoples. During his election campaign in
2000-2001, he accused his rival former Labor Party leader Ehud
Barak of waning in the battle against "Palestinian terror" and
capitulating to the conditions and political and geographic demands
set by PNA President Yasser Arafat. The policies he announced after
winning the election made no mention of "separation between the two
peoples" or setting up "security buffer zones"as Netanyahu had
during his short term as Prime Minister. Instead, Sharon raised the
idea of a long term interim solution to settle the conflict with
the Palestinians, covering a period of no less than 10 years. He
agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian political "entity" on
42 percent of the Palestinian lands occupied in 1967. He did not
object to calling this entity a Palestinian state, if the other
side wished to do so. Sharon continued to speak out against a
separation between Israel and the Palestinian territories. He
turned down a detailed "separation" plan presented to him by the
Planning Section of the Israeli Army after six months in office,
and questioned its efficacity. He wanted to avoid any accusations
from the right of drawing the final borders of the Jewish state and
squandering the "God-given land of Israel". Israel remains the only
state in the world without formal borders with its neighbouring
countries. He also strongly opposed the idea of "porous economic
borders", and the Labour Party position of an "agreed separation
between the two peoples" raised by Barak during the Camp David
negotiations in 2000, and at Taba in 2001. Sharon concentrated his
attacks against the Labor Party because it agreed to the principle
of two states for two peoples, Israel and Palestine, based on
the1967 borders. He opposed partitioning Jerusalem politically into
two capitals, as well as the establishment of the Palestinian state
on approximately 96 percent of the lands of the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip, as proposed by US President Bill Clinton in Washington
on 23 December, 2000. Sharon opposed the evacuation of any
settlement and considered all those located in the Jordan Valley as
vital for the security of Israel. Moreover, he opposed the idea of
land swaps and pooling the settlements spread out in various parts
of the west Bank into three main settlement blocs (Ariel in north
of West Bank, Jerusalem and Latroun in the center, and Gush Etzion
in the south).
"Painful Concessions"
For Sharon, Clinton's ideas and the Labor Party programme only
meant capitulation to "Palestinian terror", exposing Israel to
immense strategic dangers. They would lead to forfeiting the land
of Israel to "others". He pledged to put an end to violence without
having to separate the two peoples. He said publicly that he does
not see any difference between Netzarim (in the heart of the Gaza
Strip) and the city of Kfar Saba (next to Tel Aviv). When asked
about the " painful concessions" he had said he would be ready to
make for the sake of peace with the Palestinians during and after
the election campaign, Sharon answered that he meant abstaining
from re-occupying cities like Ramallah, Jericho, Nablus and others.
He added that no nation in the world has given away its historic
national treasures unless it was defeated in war, but "we have not
lost at war, we were victorious". Implicit was criticism of former
Israeli Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin, ( assassinated by Israeli
extremists), who said in the wake of 1995 operation in in Bet Lied
in where 20 Israeli soldiers were killed, "we have to work hard to
separate from the other people and we will achieve that sooner or
later". After several Palestinian suicide operations inside Israel,
the Israeli national unity government adopted the idea of
"separation zones". The Israeli Ministry of Defense floated tenders
to Israeli companies to start building the security fence. Sharon
shrouded the idea in mystery to avoid any negative reaction from
the extreme right-wing. He did not specify the final borders nor
the length or depth of these areas and did not mention the fate of
the remaining Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and how the
settlements would be separated from their Palestinian surroundings.
However, right-wing extremists, both religious and secular, opposed
the idea of a security fence and isolationg zones. The Mifdal,
Yisrael Beitenu (Lieberman), the party of Rehavam Zeevi, the
advocates of transfer of the Palestinians, some Likud groupings and
the settlers waged a venemous campaign against the idea of
separation. They accused Sharon of surrendering to Palestinian
terror and adopting the ideas of the Labor Party on separation and
abandoning "Judea and Samaria" while camouflaging his capitulation
by saying it is a "security separation" and not a "geopolitical
separation".
There are several other political and practical complications that
undermine the value and efficacy of the separation plan, rendering
it a mere illusion while security conditions for both the
Palestinians and Israelis deteriorate further, complicating any
political solution to their long-standing conflict. The
Palestinians are firmly against it, and both the UN General
Assembly and Security Council have condemned it.
Stumbling Blocks
A number of problems confront Sharon's security fence. Firstly,
Israel will have to build a security fence, electronic walls,
concrete blocs, underground tunnels, and fixed control towers over
an area extending no less than 200 kms, starting from Gilboa in the
north of the West Bank to the mountains of Hebron in the south.
None of the committees appointed by previous governments to study
"separation and isolation" rated this plan highly. One such
committee was set up by Yitzhak Rabin, headed by former police
minister Moshe Shahal and including former finance minister Avraham
Shohat and a representative of the Army Chief of Staff. It reported
that such an operation would be extremely complicated, highly
costly and time consuming. The potential results of such a
separation plan based on tactical and strategic security conditions
would be to decrease the number of infiltrations into Israel but
not to end them completely. It would not put an end to suicide
bombings or to mortar attacks or other similar military operations,
particularly if the plan were implemented unilaterally. A similar
plan has been operational in the Gaza Strip for several years and
the results only confirm the predictions of the various Israeli
committee reports. More than once, the Israeli Army had to invade
populated Palestinian areas in Rafah, Gaza, Khan Yunis and Deir
al-Balah in response to operations carried out by Palestinians who
had penetrated a fence similar to the one contractors are preparing
to set up in the West Bank. In other instances, the Palestinians
were able to launch short range mortar rockets.
Secondly, Sharon opposes, on principle, the idea of separating East
and West Jerusalem, whether by building a wall or by barbed wires.
He is well aware that the deployment of thousands of soldiers and
security forces, street closures and enclosing "Greater Jerusalem"
with checkpoints and concrete blocs over the last year, did not
prevent Palestinians from executing several suicide operations on
the main streets of West Jerusalem, killing tens of Israelis.
Moreover, the overlap between the settlements around Jerusalem and
the Arab quarters of the city makes any "security separation"
between the two sides virtually impossible. Sharon, his top ranking
security officers, and Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert can not simply
apply a policy of collective expulsion of Palestinians living in
Jerusalem and its suburbs. The mere existence of over 300,000
Palestinians within the area of "Greater Jerusalem," most of them
carrying Israeli identification cards, is sufficient to undermine
Sharon's separation plan from its foundations.
Thirdly, neither Sharon, nor his allies Shimon Peres and Labour
Party leader Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, [this article was written prior
to the collapse of the coalition government - editor's note] have
explained the fate of thousands of Palestinians living in
Jerusalem, or in the numerous towns and villages located directly
on the Green Line in areas such as Qalqilya,Tulkarem and Jenin.
Before and after the Aqsa Intifada, former Prime Minister Ehud
Barak tried separating these towns and villages from Israel.
Unilaterally and quietly the Israeli army has implemented practical
measures to achieve such a separation. The security fence was
developed, several minor border adjustments were introduced and
military checkpoints were moved to new positions east of the 1967
borders. But all these measures, and Sharon's more recent
arrangements, have failed to prevent thousands of Palestinian
workers infiltrating Israel, in search of work. Some of them have
remained in Israel for weeks and months. Palestinian "suicide
bombers" have also succeeded in breaking through all the measures
put in place by the Army, the police and Border Guards to reach the
centres of west Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Afoula and
Hadera.
Instead of depending on the security fence, Sharon ordered the army
to occupy all the cities, villages and camps in the West Bank. In
March 2002, the army imposed a "complete security closure" there.
From time to time it withdraws temporarily rom these cities before
it is forced to re-occupy them. In justifying the reasons for the
month long curfews imposed on Palestinian cities and towns, Sharon
has implicity admited to the Europeans and to representatives of
the UN Secretary-General, the Red Cross and some human rights
groups, that the separation plan has failed to provide Israel with
the security promised.
Finally, Sharon's security fence did not address the problem of
settlers and settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Sharon adamantly refuses to evacuate any settlement, large or
small.Assuming that the Israeli Army could build a buffer zone
along the 1967 borders and around the city of Jerusalem, the larger
and smaller settlements spread out all over the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip would make it impossible, particularly as some of these
settlements are actually inside Palestinian cities such as Hebron
and Jerusalem, and many others, such as Beit Eil, Kiryat Arba',
Alfi Menasheh, Ariel and Karni Shamron are adjacent to Palestinian
cities and villages.
The basic shortcomings of the unilateral security separation plan
outlined above, and the refusal of international and regional
forces involved in peace-making to deal with this plan as it is
prejudicial to the final status issues, are in themselves
sufficient proof of the deceptive nature of Sharon's pledge to
achieve "peace and security." It is similar to the deceptive
illusion of the security fence along the Lebanese borders. Israel's
political, military and security establishment sustained that over
20 years, creating a security buffer zone in south Lebanon, guarded
by the now-forgotten General Anton Lahd.
Uniting the Opposition
A number of Israeli writers, analysts and peace advocates have
recently started talking about the failure of the security doctrine
adopted by Sharon and his extremist entourage. This expediates the
process of revealing the truth to the Israeli public and adds to
the ranks of those who believe that unilateral separation and the
security fence only complicate any possibilities for a political
solution and damaging the economy, without providing security. The
majority of Israelis will soon realize the risks in Sharon's
"new-old" policy, and the threat it holds for Israel's relations
with regional and international parties that uphold the separation
of the two peoples through a lasting peace agreement.
Sharon and the Israeli right-wing would be mistaken if they think
that the security fence, buffer zones and settlement expansion will
create new facts on the ground that the Palestinians, the Arabs and
the world would ultimately have to accept. If the undeclared
purpose of Sharon and his military and political allies is to draw
the map of the final solution under the pretext of creating
security buffer zones surrounded by barbed wires, then all this
project begets is the following: it stands in violation of
international legitimacy, undermines the idea of Israeli-Arab
peace, escalates the conflict in the region, deepens the hatred and
widens the circle of blood-drenched violence on the historic land
of Palestine.
The Israeli public should be talked to and convinced that there is
no choice but to return to the negotiating table and to joint
security coordination against terror. Any attempt to use force or
to unilaterally solve the "geopolitical" conflict over the complex
issues of land, Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees and water
will drag out over many years. Palestinian and Israeli advocates of
peace, and all the regional and international forces concerned with
stability in the region, should unite their resources. They should
activate their efforts to renew the movement for peace based on the
understanding that peace in the Middle East can only be achieved
through building justice and stability in the Holy City. To uphold
Jerusalem as the eternal united capital of Israel, and to isolate
it from its surroundings with barbed wire, will only further
aggravate the situation. Security for both Israelis and
Palestinians can only be achieved through a fence of peace and not
by security fences and building more settlements.