Kfar Etzion becomes standard-bearer for rebellion against fence

The members meeting convened several months ago in Kfar Etzion was one of the stormiest in its history. By its close, the flagship community of Gush Etzion had become the standard-bearer for rebellion against the separation fence within the settlement bloc. Kfar Etzion announced it was opposed to the fence, which harms Jews and Arabs alike.

Objections to the fence were twofold. Hanan Porat, for example, feared it would spell a return to "reclusion in ghettos, instead of fighting terrorism." But the main outcry was over the resulting bisection of the bloc. Shimon Karniel and other members said it would be unconscionable for the bloc to be severed from the settlements in the east - Tekoa, Nokdim, Ma'aleh Amos, Kfar Eldad and Meitzad - and from the bloc's southernmost community, Carmei Tzur.

Kfar Etzion's move threatened to curtail lobbying efforts by the head of the Gush Etzion regional council, Shaul Goldstein, regarding the route and nature of the fence. Goldstein tried to persuade Kfar Etzion members to engage in talks with the army and government in order to influence the fence route, but primarily to change its components and nature as a security obstacle, rather than a political separation.

Goldstein enlisted the heads of the neighboring local councils, Beitar Ilit and Efrat. Together they represent a Jewish population of 50,000. "We, too, have a `daily life' that must be taken into consideration, just as the High Court of Justice shows consideration for the daily life of the Palestinians," they say.

Goldstein has already met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and the army's GOC Central Command, Yair Naveh.

Mofaz is scheduled to visit Gush Etzion today. Goldstein and his colleagues have proposed to him that parts of the fence route be replaced by radar systems and other electronic measures, including prickly pear barriers (an idea previously publicized). They also mapped out a series of alterations to the fence route. Mofaz, Goldstein says, was open to the alternative fence concept presented to him and instructed the Israel Defense Forces to look into whether and how it could be implemented.

The harshest criticism of the fence in Gush Etzion depicts it as "plastic cling wrap." "This fence far from Tel Aviv gives Tel Aviv warning time," Goldstein says, "but because of the restrictions imposed by the High Court of Justice, it's smack up against our homes, and does not provide any warning time at all should terrorists attack us."

Goldstein points out that with the current fence route, "all terrorists have to do is stand by the fence and shoot on the town or road the fence runs along." The odds of retribution are in the terrorists' favor, he told Mofaz, since the IDF is already short of manpower to deploy along both sides.

In recent meetings with the defense establishment, Gush Etzion residents focused on several points they consider critical: the fence's proximity to houses, especially in Efrat, Migdal Oz and Bat Ayin; the "theft" of 3,000 dunams of state-owned lands that were earmarked for building 1,000 housing units in Bat Ayin; the route's problematic exclusion of a hill near Efrat's northern entrance, on which Palestinian policemen in the past stood and directed terrorist fire on route 60; and the current exclusion of Jabaa, a small village that occupies a strategically high point.

Goldstein favors a fence, as long as it's at some distance from the settlements. This, he says, would "provide them with security to a certain extent," and permit Gush Etzion to maintain its attraction as a major education center for students from all over Israel and abroad.

Shimon Karniel from Kfar Etzion hopes the suggested alternatives will be accepted so working relations with Palestinian neighbors can be preserved. "There's a whole system of relations between the Jewish and Arab farmers in the area. The fence in its prospective format, aside from the character of a political border route, to which we obviously object, will encourage hate and disputes among residents," he said.