The Fence

The International Court at The Hague is expected to rule against Israel’s construction of the Security Fence today. Maybe not exactly the whole fence, but at least the parts built on “Palestinian land.” [Would that we could get the Palestinians to agree that at least some of it was, therefore, built on “Israeli land.” We’ve never seen the Palestinians agree that ANY land was “Israeli land.”] The U.S. will vote against an anti-Israel decision; nearly all the European countries asked the Court NOT to issue a ruling.

The International Court at The Hague is expected to rule against Israel’s construction of the Security Fence today. Maybe not exactly the whole fence, but at least the parts built on “Palestinian land.” [Would that we could get the Palestinians to agree that at least some of it was, therefore, built on “Israeli land.” We’ve never seen the Palestinians agree that ANY land was “Israeli land.”] The U.S. will vote against an anti-Israel decision; nearly all the European countries asked the Court NOT to issue a ruling. But international institutions have a life of their own and the Court won’t waste an opportunity to castigate Israel and further damage its own credibility.

According to previews of the ruling, the right of Palestinians to free movement is greater than the right of Israelis to live. The right of Palestinians not to be inconvenienced (the fence has gates for legitimate crossing) is greater than the right of Israelis not to be blown to pieces on a bus or eating in pizza parlors. The right of terrorists to arrive at the target is greater than the right of Israeli security to put impediments in their way.

And only Israel of all the countries in the world is so penalized. Only Israel? Well, Israel’s fence isn’t the only one in the world, but it seems to be the only one that engenders the horror of the world. Consider these:

• The U.S. has one on the Mexican border, keeping out mainly jobseekers, not terrorists
• North and South Korea are divided not only by a fence, but by mine fields
• Turkish Cyprus & Greek Cyprus have one
• The British built one in the middle of Belfast, Northern Ireland
• The friendly Dutch built one around the harbor area of Hoek van Holland to keep illegal immigrants where the government wants them
• India and Pakistan have 450 miles of fence. Maybe it’s a good thing.
• Spain has a barbed wired one, guarded by soldiers, encircling the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, which is surrounded by Moroccan territory
• Botswana residents living near Zimbabwe apparently cheered as their government built a 10-foot-high electrified fence on the border. Maybe we don’t blame them.
• Saudi Arabia, a petitioner to the Court at the Hague, built 60 miles of security fence on the border with Yemen
• Turkey built one on land Syria claims

We’re with Robert Frost on fences – no, not “Good fences make good neighbors.” Rather, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know/What I was walling in or walling out/And to whom I was like to give offence.”

We suspect even Robert Frost would agree that Israel knows what it is walling in and walling out. Between October 2000 and June 2003 (when the northern part of the fence was completed), 35 “successful” suicide attacks, killing 156 Israelis, emanated from Nablus and Jenin. Since then, three; none since December.

Case closed.