Israeli fear sparks alliance with foe

[Violet_Crumble]

Some Israelis are taking legal action against their Government, saying its security fence will antagonise hitherto peaceful Palestinians, writes Ed O'Loughlin.

Israel's security barrier is supposed to divide Jews from Arabs along a 600-kilometre swathe of the occupied West Bank, yet in two areas near Jerusalem it has brought them closer together.

This month, 18 Israeli residents of the Talpiot area of south Jerusalem joined their Palestinian neighbours from across the "green line" in a High Court petition against the Israeli Government's route for the barrier. Their action follows that of a group of residents from Mevaseret Zion, a west Jerusalem suburb, who in February came to the aid of their Palestinian neighbours from the villages of Beit Surik, Beit Iksa and Bidu.

In both cases Israeli Jews - many of them not noted leftists - say they are concerned that hitherto peaceful Palestinian communities will be radicalised by Government plans to fence and wall off their villages from Israel and from neighbouring Palestinian communities, farmland and services.

Mevaseret resident Haggai Agmon-Snir said the unusual alliance began to develop this year when the Government published maps showing that the fence would largely surround nearby Palestinian villages. It would not only prevent their residents from sneaking into Israel to work illegally - many as labourers in Mevaseret - but prevent them travelling freely to other parts of the West Bank. Worse still, the fence was dipping more than a kilometre inside the West Bank to run right alongside the villages, carving most of their farmland off to Israel, he said.

"If we make them so miserable, so unemployed, the next thing there will be terrorism," said Mr Agmon-Snir. "And in the context of the Middle East this is a very quiet area. In the two intifadas and in between there were only a very few terrorist attempts in Mevaseret and they were not people from Beit Surik."

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/25/1088144972515.html?oneclick=true

[number6]

1. interesting ...

..

[The Magistrate]

2. These Are Sensible People, Ma'am

Let us hope their actions have some effect. Their analysis of the matter is quite correct.