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American Morning

Israel Begins Building Fence Along West Bank Border

Aired June 17, 2002 - 07:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We move on to Israel, where there has been another suicide bombing. This one near a border post in northern Israel, but the bomber killed only himself.

Those suicide bombings are one major reason the government has just started constructing a 217-mile-long fence along the border between Israel and the West Bank. The groundbreaking ceremony happened yesterday, the same day that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected the idea of an interim Palestinian state. President Bush was expected to propose that idea sometime this week.

Our Jerrold Kessel is in Jerusalem, and he joins us more with his -- now with more on the fence -- Jerrold, hello.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Yes, it is strange how something which doesn't really exist can create such a commotion, such a fuss, create such antagonism, so much opposition. And that something, of course, is what is known as the fence that Israel has begun.

The groundbreaking work began formally yesterday in the northern part of the West Bank and Israel along that frontier for this fence, which will be built along the -- roughly along the Israel-West Bank border. And I am not strictly speaking only a fence, because there will be a melange of obstacles, including a very tall wall in some places near where Palestinian towns are right alongside that border between Israel and the West Bank. Also ditches, also patrol roads, also electronic surveillance devices, all coming together in what the Israelis are calling a fence along the West Bank-Israel border.

And this has become almost a political imperative in Israeli politics, as each time a suicide bomber gets through, the public demand for such an obstacle, a barrier, increases. And that has led to the fact that this fence is now becoming a political reality.

But there is something more than the fence, and that's an issue that is perhaps grappling with the opponents of this. That is the conception of perhaps this is the first stage of what the Israelis call unilateral separation from the Palestinians. That could be what's causing the fuss among the right-wing opponents, who don't want this to be a political fence, a political border in the future -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, Jerrold, it's interesting the opposition of people who are against this, not only the conservative Israelis, as you pointed out, but also Palestinians. The basic issue on both sides, not happy with the line that this fence draws, and what that could lead to in the future in deciding territory.

KESSEL: Yes, exactly that. As I say, the right wingers hope this won't be a political line down the future, which will mean that Israel will either weaken its hold or its determination to hold onto the West Bank and Gaza, where there is already a fence around the whole of the Gaza Strip. And among Palestinians, they say it won't work. It means Israel is annexing more territory. It means Israel is turning its back on the possibility of living alongside Palestinians, deciding what it wants to do on its own, and that will only create further antagonism.

So a good deal of opposition to this, but among the Israeli public, a great deal of support for this, a determination it will be built. And for that reason, it seems as if it will go ahead after all -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Interesting to find one issue that conservative Israelis and Palestinians agree upon, but not necessarily the solution. Jerrold Kessel in Jerusalem -- thank you so much.

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