http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030811/opinion/11edit.htmTaking him at his word, Israelis are right to believe that left with their arms the terrorists will sooner or later use them to kill innocent Israeli citizens and will use the temporary cease-fire to regroup, rearm, and re-enlist new suicide bombers. An endorsement of this view comes in a sinister interpretation of Abu Mazen's behavior by no less than Arafat's henchman Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian legislator, who said Abu Mazen is aiming to get Hamas and Islamic Jihad to agree to wait until the Palestinian state is declared before attacking Israeli targets. The sad reality is that Arafat remains the power--the rais--the undisputed ruler with the same kaffiyeh and olive uniform, while Abu Mazen is seen as a lightweight leader imposed from the outside. Arafat works publicly and behind the scenes to undermine Abu Mazen to prove that nothing can happen without Arafat. Arafat retains control, as noted here before, of most of the government institutions, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee and the Fatah Central Committee, five of the seven security organizations, including the Army and its commanders, and the fighters of Tanzim, Fatah, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and most of the administrators in the region. As one Israeli analyst put it, when Abu Mazen's government was born, Arafat made sure "it would be castrated." No one should doubt that Arafat's means to his political ends include terrorism.
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The security fence is no more than a response by the Israelis to a thousand days of terrorism with over 800 civilians killed--the vast majority women and children. It symbolizes Israeli revulsion at a Palestinian society that turns young people into time bombs and delights in the murder of Jews. Such a fence is hardly unusual. A similar fence has existed at the Gaza Strip, and to date, not one suicide bomber from this area has infiltrated, compared with 300 that over the past three years have simply been able to walk or drive into Israel from the West Bank. Along most of this frontier there are virtually no barriers of any kind. Israel has found it necessary also to fence its frontiers with Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. America has fenced off many parts of the Mexican border to deter illegal immigrants. There is a wall between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, etc.
The Palestinians have challenged this fence as a "racist, Berlin Wall." It is an absurd comparison. The Berlin Wall was imposed on one people, Germans, by an alien power to stop East Germans from fleeing to freedom and democracy in West Germany. The Israeli fence will separate two warring people in order to protect citizens of Israel from being murdered and maimed by Palestinian terrorists. It is a defensive weapon and will undoubtedly be needed whether or not the end of conflict is reached.
And what is this fence? It is a combination of chain-link, barbed wire, and concrete barriers, plus a high-tech system of ground sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles, trenches, land mines, and old-fashioned dirt paths that will be swept clean each day so footsteps will show. Where Jewish and Palestinian population centers are close to each other, it will take the form of a high, concrete wall, not only to prevent infiltration by terrorists but also to give protection against light gunfire from Palestinian towns. Throughout, there will be passages permitted through guarded gates for legitimate Palestinian workers and farmers.
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excellent op-ed
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