Fences that obscure reality
Editorial
Haaretz, 31 December 2002
After more than two years of lethal terror attacks that have exacted a terrible price on both sides of the Green Line, change can be discerned in the settlers' orientation. Eliezer Hisdai, the Yesha Council of Settlements security chief, told Ha'aretz on Sunday that a clear majority of settlements in the territories want to erect electronic fences. Only 10 out of 150 settlements still refuse to surround their areas with some sort of fence, despite the frequent murderous terror attacks in the territories; these 10 insist on putting the lives of their residents at risk in the name of ideology.
The change in the settlers' orientation appears, at first glance, to augur well: There as well, on the other side of the Green Line, common sense appears to be triumphing over a brand of messianic fervor that believes in the righteousness of its cause in all circumstances, even if the cost entails shedding the blood of children. The natural anxiety of those who have lost loved ones, and life enveloped by fear of the next terror attack, has for some time had an impact among children; and the tension and fear influences adults as well. As the settlers see it, the government, which continues to support the settlement movement even though it remains controversial with the public at large, cannot afford to neglect the security and welfare of the Jewish communities in the territories.
In actual fact, this tardy security demand by settlers for warning fences obscures reality, and misdirects debate. During the past 30 years, Israel's public has paid a stiff price for the dangerous adventure of establishing Jewish settlements around Palestinian population concentrations in the territories.
This price has been paid in all spheres: in the insufferable burdens borne by Israel Defense Forces soldiers; in the indirect and direct economic burdens entailed by the establishment of settlements and of essential infrastructures far from the existing infrastructure; and in the convoluted priorities that constantly erode the welfare, education, health and quality of life of citizens who live within the Green Line (main arteries such as the Tel Aviv-Haifa highway or the Tel Aviv-Be'er Sheva road lack proper lights, whereas bypass roads on the West Bank are paved and well-lit).
Last but not least, there is an inversion of the Zionist normative pyramid, and a mortal blow to the moral rectitude of our presence in the Jewish national home.
Now, as they continue to oppose all peace initiatives, and large groups of them abuse Palestinians in markets, olive groves, streets and homes, the settlers are asking the government for additional defense measures. For the taxpayer, who has been forced to endure painful salary cuts and deepening unemployment, such defense measures will cost another NIS 1 billion.
The time has come for Israel's public to refuse to fund this ongoing distortion, and to demand that settlers return Israel's borders within the Green Line. Here, they will be protected by an agreed-upon fence whose dimensions might be modest, but which heralds a return to sane Zionist sovereignty.
