The Political and Security Complications of the Israeli Separation Fence

• Published in: Palestine-Israel journal of politics, economics, and culture economics, and culture, 2002-01, Vol.9 (3), p.26-31
• Main Author: Nofal, Mamdouh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apartheid; Arab-Israeli conflict; Crime; Economics; Extremism; Geopolitics; Government; International; International relations; Israel; Land settlement; National security; Palestinian Authority; Palestinian people; Political science; Politics; Prime ministers; Regional security; Separatism; Suicide bombings; Terrorism
• ISSN: 0793-1395

[Ariel 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 Labor 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 the 1967 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 December 23, 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