Steven Plaut

There is one major issue regarding the "Security Wall" that is being ignored by the media and by Israelis.   Sure, the weaknesses associated with the idea of the "Security Wall" have already been expounded.   The Wall is easy to climb over, dig under, swim around, or blow holes in.  Even worse, there is nothing stopping the Palestinians from shooting mortars, rockets, and missiles over it.  The Wall is much too close to the "Green Line" and signals Israel's willingness to return to its 1949 "Auschwitz borders."   The Wall should in fact be a set of security cages surrounding the large Palestinian towns while leaving open the rest of the West Bank and Gaza for Jews to move freely.    
 
But all that is old hat.  There is another reason why the Wall will fail. Suppose hypothetically Israel were to build a wall 3000 kilometers high, one that could not be dug under or shot over.  Even then the Wall would do nothing to stop the terror and carnage. Why?  Because the Wall does nothing if you let the terrorists walk into Israel through the gates in the Wall!  Israel's policy has always been to allow tens of thousands of Palestinian day laborers to enter Israel freely.   After each terror bombing, a few days later the gates have been opened.   The much-touted Gaza fence, supposedly a role model for Sharon's new "Security Wall", has failed to prevent suicide bombers and other murderers from entering Israel for the simple reason that Israel just lets them waltz in through the gates.   Indeed, one part of Sharon's recent pledge to President Bush was that Israel would continue to let the "day laborers" enter, no matter what.   The US does not allow unrestricted entrance of day laborers from Mexico nor Canada, but wants Israel to agree to allow tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs to enter Israel, no matter how many Israelis get murdered as a result.
  
So never mind that the Wall cannot stop a single Kassem rocket (Kassems are no longer just a problem from Gaza but were discovered this week in the West Bank, and can strike Lod airport and Jerusalem).   

The Chinese Wall failed.  The Roman Walls failed.  Sharon's Wall will fail.    The Security Wall is the latest Israeli attempt to find an alternative to Israeli military victory.  There is no magic solution that can serve as an alternative to Israeli military control of the ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  Everything else is wishful thinking and foolish belief in magic.

Steven Plaut is Professor of Economics at Haifa University