From the moment the "settlement virus" infected the separation fence between Israel and the Palestinian areas of the West Bank, the fence has been seen by many Americans more as a "political fence" than as a security fence - and that is what has created the dispute with Washington. In the end, Israel will have no choice but to make changes in the fence´s route in places where it bulges eastward to encompass settlement blocs.

The Americans do not object to the security-defense aspect of the fence, but to the fact that it draws a political boundary in some places - always eastward, into Palestinian territory - thereby causing new problems on the ground at a time when the goal is to resolve problems. The Palestinians found it easy to recruit the Americans to their side on this issue. Nevertheless, a distinction must be made between the American stance, which accepts Israel´s defensive needs, and the Palestinian stance, which opposes any fence and wants a porous border between Israel and the territories. A porous border is dangerous because of the ease with which terrorists could pass through it into Israel. And tens of thousands of Palestinians, Jordanians and other Arabs could come into Israel and settle without permission.

The dispute with the Americans began after the fence´s route, which was originally closer to the Green Line, was moved eastward to include settlement blocs. The largest change, which led to the most significant eastward bulge, was the one that created the Ariel enclave. By moving the fence to include Ariel, the planners succeeded in bringing another 40,000 people into the fenced area, of which some 37,000 are Israeli and about 3,000 are Palestinian. This will, of course, make construction of this section of the fence more expensive, because the length of this section, which was originally supposed to be about 10 kilometers, will now be about 100 kilometers. The extended fence will also require additional troops to man it, most of them reservists. Another eastward incursion is that in the area of Kiryat Sefer.

The Americans are certain to raise this issue with PM Ariel Sharon during his visit to Washington. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas presumably raised it during his visit there. Given Israel´s growing dependence on the U.S., the most likely outcome is that Israel will ultimately be forced to accept the suggestion-demand that it change the fence´s route to turn it back into a separation-security fence. The defense establishment is already preparing for this eventuality. It is working on a proposal in which, instead of all settlements in an enclave being fenced in as a single territorial unit, each settlement would be fenced off separately. But this has not yet been discussed by the security cabinet. (© Copyright 2003 Haaretz. 07/25/03)