How the Barrier Threatens Arabs by Bruce S. Ticker Aug 03, '04 / 16 Av 5764
Arabs from Gaza and the West Bank argue that Israel can build a wall as high as it wants so long as it runs within the boundary line, and not one inch on the land they call Palestine.
Well, that's what they say. Had Prime Minister Ariel Sharon restricted the barrier to the Green Line, what are the chances that the Arabs would have been satisfied?
They would have probably found some excuse to oppose it and perhaps petition the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, to order it dismantled. Sharon gave Yasser Arafat and his friends a ready excuse to fight the barrier when he extended it into the West Bank. The court gave Arabs what they wanted thereafter.
It does not make sense for the Arabs to obediently abide by the barrier no matter where it is built. It threatens them in two ways.
For terrorists, it leaves them with far fewer targets. They could only make their way from Jenin and other West Bank towns to murder Jews and others in Haifa, Netanya, etc., by crossing an unimpeded border into sovereign Israel.
However, they are now blocked by a barrier - mostly a fence, but some of it a wall. That barrier stops them cold, usually. How can they possibly kill innocent people if they cannot travel to Israel proper?
This is frustrating. They cannot very well fight the Israelis if Israel cuts them off and refuses to fight. After all, a sure way to frustrate an enemy is to just decline to fight by keeping a safe distance from the would-be assailant.
All Gaza and West Bank Arabs - no matter how extreme or moderate - should worry about construction of the barrier if Israel should decide to separate altogether from them. That's the direction in which Israel is moving, and they know it.
The West Bank shares the longest border on dry land with Israel. How would a Palestinian state build a viable economy if the Arabs cannot do business with Israel? Separation could mean that Arabs will not be able to commute to Israel for jobs and that Arab businesses could not use Israeli roads to reach coastal ports.
Such a move would starve Arabs on the West Bank unless Jordan was willing to work with them, and that seems unlikely. If their lives are miserable now, that's only a preview of things to come if they are completely cut off from Israel.
The Arab leadership and their extremist followers essentially got what they asked for, anyway, when Sharon routed the barrier to include West Bank settlements. It is a public relations bonanza for them, and that is always more important than bettering the lives of their own people. Letting their people continue to suffer is well worth the price if they can harm Israel, even in terms of perception.
No matter where anyone stands on the route of the barrier, Arab extremists have been begging for it ever since they started this senseless war in September 2000. When Sharon ran for election as prime minister, Israeli voters had to choose between an incumbent Ehud Barak, whom they deemed ineffective, and Sharon, who many feared would be too heavy-handed.
Sharon must count the Arabs as his strongest campaigners. Without their ongoing terror war, Arab extremists could not have helped him more had they cast the votes themselves. Now, their people are suffering even more with the barrier route, and they expect worldwide sympathy.
The Arabs, as a people, brought this on themselves and now they want Israel to pay for it.
