Sharon's plans, made concrete

Indeed, Muhammed Dahleh, a Palestinian-Israeli lawyer working against Jerusalem's barrier (see part 4), recently told Palestine Report Online that, "at this stage, I don't think we can divide Jerusalem anymore. I don't think we can divide Palestine anymore. The way it's being done, it's dragging the two people, whether they want or don't want, to a different kind of struggle in the future, whereby there's nothing left to divide. And I don't think the day is distant when I'll be hearing Palestinians call for one man, one vote."

Mr. Steinberg, a conservative analyst, calls this a "one-state trap ... to defeat and destroy the Jewish state."

He advocates dismantling some settlements, incorporating others and separating from the Palestinians. "It's very important to look at the demographic issue. There will be an inevitable Arab majority if this is a single national entity," he says. "There's a lot of disappointment in Sharon about the fact that the fence does not take the cleanest route to separate Palestinians and Israelis."

Palestinian fears that Israel will use the barrier to take their land are deepening. Palestinians point to the Israeli army's decision, in October, to make 18,000 acres of land between the barrier and the Green Line a "closed zone," meaning no one may enter or exit without a permit. This includes the 12,000 Palestinians living in the area. They will have to apply for permits to continue living there and to exit and reenter the area. Israeli citizens and internationals of Jewish descent are exempt from any permit requirement.

The permit system "turns a right to reside in one's own home and with one's family into a revocable privilege allotted on a case-by-case basis," the United Nations noted in a recent report.

Yet while Palestinian concerns increase, the vast majority of Israelis continue to back the barrier, despite its failure to stop three recent attacks by Palestinian militants and US plans to exact financial penalties for its construction.

Eighty-three percent of Israeli Jews support the barrier. Of that number, 63 percent say it should follow the route the government selects, according to the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University. Only 19 percent think it should be built along the Green Line that divides Israel from the Palestinian territories.

The recently approved route for sections north and south of Jerusalem brings the barrier's length to 450 miles. The UN's recent report estimates that 680,000 Palestinians will be directly harmed by the barrier. The figure is strongly disputed by Israel, which has called the report "propaganda."

These are people no longer able to easily access schools, healthcare, jobs and, crucially, their land. They cite the army's closure during harvest time of barrier gates meant to allow access to farmers' fields.

The Israeli human rights group B'tselem estimates that a total of 102,000 Palestinians will be caught between the barrier and the Green Line. Most of these villages will be enclosed within secondary walls or hemmed in between two barriers.

Palestinian movement will also be restricted around settlements that remain on the eastern side of the barrier. The defense ministry wants to establish "special security zones" that Palestinians would not be allowed to enter.

These zones will cost over $2 million each, adding to a barrier price tag that is now between $1 and $2 billion. That cost will grow when the US deducts the cost of the barrier in areas where it believes it does not fulfill a security function.

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