Isn't there an ''apartheid wall'' in the West Bank?

The Separation Barrier, built after 2002 is a defensive security response to terrorism. It does not separate races, but protects Israeli population centres, both Jewish and Arab, from Palestinian population centres from where the suicide bombers set out.

After the failure of the Camp David negotiations in 2000, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat launched the Second Intifada. A wave of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks hit Israel. Whilst the country has experienced terrorism throughout its history, the attacks had never been so intense. In 2002, a fatal suicide bombing was carried out in Israel nearly every two weeks on average. The attackers predominantly came from the West Bank. In response, Israel built a security barrier in order to stop terrorists from entering Israel from the West Bank which in turn reduced the need for Israeli forces to enter Palestinian areas to root out terror cells. The barrier contributed to a dramatic reduction in successful terrorist attacks inside Israel and helped bring an end to the Second Intifada. While there are other factors that also help to explain the steep decline in terror attacks that took place after 2002, the Separation Barrier played a major role.

Around 90 per cent of the barrier is an electronically monitored fence. The rest is a wall in built up areas where there is not enough room for a monitored fence, or where there is a need to protect against sniper fire.

The route of the security barrier is determined by the need to save Israeli lives by preventing Palestinian terrorists from reaching Israeli towns and cities. The final border between Israel and the Palestinians will be resolved by negotiations. Israel has shown in the past that it can and will remove security (and other) installations in the framework of a peace accord.

Palestinians living in the West Bank are able to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court against the route of the fence where it causes disruption to their lives, and have done so successfully in some cases. The Israeli Supreme Court has reviewed the route of the barrier as well as its impact on Palestinians in more than 100 cases and has ordered changes where its impact was viewed as disproportional to the security benefit gained, such as in Bil’in.. Attempts are made by Israel to minimise disruption caused by the fence, for example by building agricultural gates which allow Palestinian farmers to access their land.