Why build a fence?
President Bush said last week that part of a $9 billion aid package, slated to help with Israel’s current recession, could be deducted as punishment for the wall’s construction. The fence, according to the Israeli government, is a security measure designed to keep suicide bombers out. The government blames almost all of the suicide bombings that have taken place over the last few years on Palestinians from the West Bank. “It is a fence that separates the suicide bombers from the population centers in the state of Israel,” said Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. “Every extra day that passes without the fence being built could cost us more victims.” The fence would seal off the Palestinian-controlled part of the West Bank from Israeli-populated parts of Jerusalem. It measures 100 yards in width, includes sensors and security cameras and a complicated system of checkpoints and trenches. It is the second of its kind in Israel. Gaza already is sealed off by a patrolled fence that Israel
