Sharon Moves to Extend West Bank Fence

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has approved plans that would seal off northern Israel from the West Bank by extending a security fence to defend against Palestinian attacks, government officials said Thursday.

Construction of the fence began in northern Israel earlier this year to try to prevent attacks by Palestinian militants spearheading an uprising for independence.

News that work is to press ahead is likely to further anger Palestinians.

The fence is expected to cut into West Bank territory in some areas, shielding Jewish settlements built on land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East War.

A Defense Ministry official, Netzah Mashiah, said the new, 27-mile barrier would be built from Megiddo Junction eastward, past the Gilboa Mountains, to the town of Beit Shean, where Palestinian gunmen killed six Israelis last week.

“There was a decision in principle to continue the northern section of the fence. Now they must find the budget resources for it. The track [for the fence] has been agreed on,” said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon.

The fence has drawn the ire both of right-wing Israelis, who say it is a de facto border shutting out Jewish settlements in the West Bank from Israel proper, and Palestinians, who say it is an excuse for Israel to expropriate more of their lands.

The entire $220-million fence project is expected to cover 210 miles, roughly along the lines of the West Bank border before Israel captured the territory in 1967. Work on the first, 70-mile section began in June.

Making clear that the fence could in places take over private Palestinian and Israeli-owned property, Mashiah said: “We are trying to build it on state lands to shorten the process, but we can’t do so in every place.”