Barrier 'has prevented 20 Palestinian attacks'

[drdon326]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/17/wmid17.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/12/17/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=229966

The Israeli security barrier called the "apartheid wall" by protesters has prevented more than 20 Palestinian suicide bomb attacks, the country's domestic intelligence chief said yesterday.Avi Dichter, the Shin Bet head, said the lack of a successful suicide attack since the bombing of Maxim's restaurant in Haifa on Oct 4 was "an illusory quiet" and unlikely to last.

He brushed aside international concerns, including those of President George W Bush and Tony Blair, that the barrier, planned to be 370 miles long and with 100 miles already complete, had led to Palestinian humiliation and hardship. "In the West Bank the fence and the peripheral fence around Jerusalem are imperative," he said.

At the Herzliya Conference, a gathering of the Israeli government and security establishment, Mr Dichter said existing sections of the barrier, referred to as "the fence" by most Israelis and "the wall" by its opponents, had saved many lives.

He highlighted a planned attack on a school in the northern Israeli town of Yokne'am this month by two members of Islamic jihad. Instead of a direct journey of 18 miles, the suspected terrorists were forced to take a circuitous route by taxi, tractor and car, during which they were intercepted.

..................................................................

Peace Fence rules.

[bluesoul]

1. Peace for Israelis

no peace for Palestinians who still have to put up with daily checkpoints and killings...

[aquart]

5. Oh, why must they put up with daily checkpoints?

Could it be because they are the ones doing the killing?

Funny how you don't mention that.

But really, what is an Israeli life next to a Palestinian embarrassment? Heaven forfend a Palestinian be embarrassed just because any one of them might at any moment be attempting to blow up everyone and everything in sight.

They don't like the wall because it means they won't be getting Israel. And that's the goal: Israel taken, Jews.....oh, where would they be then, do you suppose? Refugees? Dead?

Dead?

[bluesoul]

7. The wall is built on Palestinian land

It's land theft, and obviously you see no problem with that, or with the fact that there have been lately Palestinian civilians killed. That's called peace? No Israeli's killed, and Palestinian civilians killed? OK...

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Since when have they been doing the killing?

Yr mistaken if yr of the belief that the Palestinians affected by checkpoints are doing any killing. That's a very large number of people that you've classified as killers. While a very small number might be potential suicide bombers, is that any justification for the treatment of innocents?

Do you really consider what's being done to the Palestinian people as merely an embarressment?

No, I think it's much more likely that 'they', like any other people have a problem with their land being stolen from them the way it is....


Violet...

[Gore1FL]

2. how do they measure that?

are the Palestinians strapping bombs to themselves and running headlong into the barrier as if they don't see it, or is 20 just some bullshit feelgood figure?

[Gore1FL]

3. let me clarify the question

The article says they had to go a long way around the wall to make the attacks and then were caught -- Does that seem a bit weird?

[drdon326]

4. Not at all....

by controlling who passes thru the fence then suicide
bombers can be deterred.

[aquart]

6. Or at least they'll be tired.

[drdon326]

10. Bummer...

well...theyll rest up and try again.

[Jim Sagle]

12. How dare the Israelis inconvenience a suicide bomber?

[Gimel]

9. Limited access

It only stands to reason that having fewer access points will make apprehaension easier. For another aticle on the Avi Dichter
(Shin Bet director) talk:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=39280

[RPG-7]

11. The wall stopped a bazziliongillion attacks

They just make this stuff up as they go along.

[Jim Sagle]

14. The fence stopped some attacks - that's obvious.

Isn't that a good thing?

[RPG-7]

16. I don't know that it stopped anyone

Let's say it did. Exactly how many Palestinian homes and farms would be destroyed, locked into ghettos where if there is a Jewish holiday the gates are just locked and the people kept prisoner, Palestinian families seperated from each other perhaps forever in areas where they are on the wrong side of the fence is it worth to keep one human bomber out?

[Jim Sagle]

17. You've painted an exaggeratged picture. I think the fence RAWWWKSS!!

[RPG-7]

18. not in the slightest

Put a number on it for me though, how many Palestinians is an Israeli worth?

[Jim Sagle]

19. 1, if you're talking life vs. life. If you're talking inconvenience, it's

apples and oranges.

[Muddleoftheroad]

26. How much is a highway worth? Or an office building?

Every time ANYTHING is built, citizens complain. You should see the troubles caused in the D.C. area when they want to build a road or even just expand one.

In fact, many of the comments are just the same as we get for the Peace Fence. It disrupts communties. It is built of people's land.

Well, that's what governments do. They build projects for the common good and some folks get inconvenienced.

[Gimel]

13. There may be

ways to get over an electronicly guarded fence, without triggering the alarms, but apparently they haven't taken up pole vaulting or parachuting yet.

[Jim Sagle]

15. Celebrate the good news.

O8) The peace fence...making the world a better place, one brick at a time. O8)

[Darranar]

20. I do not doubt the Land Grab Wall's effectiveness...

The question is whether it should be built where it is.

This claim, if true, does nothing to justify the fact that the wall is where it is and not on Israeli territory.

[Forkboy]

21. well yeah

but the fence RAWKS dude!!!!!

[GabysPoppy]

27. You got that right

[Jim Sagle]

24. If the fence quiets things down, both sides are more likely to be

more open to negotiations, and the Israelis have emphasized that the fence can be moved.

Stop the killing, then talk peace. It's a B-Utiful thing.

[VT70]

22. Good

I will take security of the Israelis over the convenience of Palestinians any day of the week. Palestinian convenience is just not very high on my list of priorities. I don't feel bad that they have trouble getting to their jobs, etc. Suicide bombers should have thought of that before they acted.

[Gimel]

23. Clear thinking

Priorities based on a scale of human interests. :thumbsup:

:toast:

[Darranar]

25. But the security of Israel...

does not have to come at the expense of the Palestinians.

[Gimel]

28. The 39 sq miles

that are taken up by the fence could be replaced elsewhere, and in fact the fence is removable. The question is, how long will it be until there is the possibility of removing the fence? That depends on the dismanteling of terrorist organizations. Maybe the dragging of feet in that respect comes at the expense of Israeli lives. It is not simplely a "land grab". Security does come at the expense of both sides.