If a law student had written that a Supreme Court ruling ordering changes to the route of the separation fence could be compared to a situation in which the judiciary intervened in a government decision to bomb the nuclear reactor of an enemy state - he would receive an "F." Had he compared the situation of Palestinian landowners, whose rights are violated by the fence, to the victims of a vital military operation, it would have shown that he did not read the assigned material. However, when such comparisons are being made by the recipient of the Israel Prize in Law, it is hard to decide which is worse: the fact that Prof. Daniel Friedmann has not read the Supreme Court rulings, or that Justice Minister Friedmann is deviously enlisting security issues in his war against the Supreme Court.

Indeed, the petitions to the High Court of Justice and the rulings ordering corrections in the original route of the separation fence are causing delays in the completion of the work, and are harmful to the security of Israeli citizens. But those responsible for this ongoing failure are not the people sitting on the bench of the Supreme Court. It is not the justices who drew the route of the fence near the settlement of Tzofin in the northern West Bank, in keeping with the blueprints of plans for an industrial zone that is to be set up in that area (and whose establishment has not even been approved). The Defense Ministry, with the full backing of the Prime Minister's Office, has presented this encroaching settler route as a "security route." According to a letter sent by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to then defense minister Amir Peretz, this was arranged behind his back.

Since last June, when the ruling regarding the Tzofin area was issued, experts from the Council for Peace and Security brought before the High Court effective alternatives to the route of the fence in 10 other areas. Their suggestions minimize the damage caused to Palestinian property rights and save Israelis hundreds of millions of shekels.