India and Israel build barriers to
peace By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - The dramatic fall in suicide
bombings inside Israel this year has prompted Israeli
military and security experts to claim that their
strategy to contain Palestinian attacks is working. But
while this strategy might have helped achieve this drop
in violence, it seems that the apparent victory over the
Palestinian militants is likely to be a short-term one.
There have been four suicide bombings so far
this year, compared with 17 in the first half of last
year, and 46 over the same period in 2002. Israeli
officials attribute this to several factors. One is its
assassination of several leaders, especially those of
Hamas, and its incursions into Palestinian cities that
have kept militant commanders on the run. The other is
the separation barrier that restricts Palestinians - and
potential suicide bombers - from entering Israel from
the West Bank. Israeli officials have claimed that 29
suicide bombers were intercepted in the West Bank before
they could blow themselves up in Israel.
Israel describes the
630-kilometer separation wall it is constructing in the West Bank
as a "security fence" or "an anti-terrorism
fence". The construction consists of a concrete foundation topped by
4.5 meters of wire-mesh fence. In some sections the barrier is
a concrete wall 7.5m high. Protecting the barrier on the
Palestinian side are coils of barbed wire and a deep trench
to prevent explosive-laden vehicles from smashing
through. On the Israeli side, a patrol road runs adjacent to
the barrier. Alongside is a "trace" road covered with
fine sand that is combed each morning and evening
for intruders' footprints. Another barbed-wire barrier runs
along the trace road. Cameras, motion detectors and
magnetic sensors watch out for intruders and relay data
to command centers that dispatch troops as soon as an
intrusion is detected.
Israelis point
out that several other countries have erected security
fences to tackle terrorism and illegal migration, but it
is only Israel that is condemned for its
separation barrier. Indeed, Israel is neither the first nor the
only country to construct a fence to secure itself from
intrusion and infiltration. The United States has erected
a fence supported by floodlights, infra-red
scopes and underground sensors along its border with Mexico
to keep out illegal immigrants. Saudi Arabia is
constructing a security barrier along its border with Yemen
to block the entry of smugglers and al-Qaeda
operatives. Botswana has erected a three-meter-high electrified fence on
its border with Zimbabwe to stop the flow of refugees.
The European Union is financing a razor-wire border fence
between the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco to curb
the flow of illegal immigrants into Europe. And India
has erected a security fence along its international
border with Pakistan and along the Line of Control (LoC)
that separates the two parts of Kashmir administered by
India and Pakistan to tackle the infiltration of
militants from Pakistan. It is also erecting a fence
along its border with Bangladesh.
What is
unacceptable about the Israeli separation barrier is
that it is not just about enhancing Israel's security,
but has more to do with Israel's territorial ambitions.
The Israeli separation barrier cuts deep into
Palestinian land. Earlier this month, the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the separation barrier
was illegal and was "tantamount to annexation". A United
Nations General Assembly resolution demanding that
Israel comply with the ICJ ruling to dismantle its West
Bank barrier was passed with 150 votes in favor of the
resolution, six against and 10 abstentions. Israel says
it will comply with an Israeli Supreme Court ruling
ordering the barrier to be re-routed around Jerusalem.
But it has vowed to press on with the construction of
the wall.
The erection of the separation wall
has considerable support in Israel. The large number of
suicide attacks by Palestinian militants since the start
of the second intifada in September 2000 has resulted in
immense weariness with violence among Israelis. The
steady reduction in suicide attacks inside Israel since
the construction of the barrier began has convinced more
Israelis that the barrier is needed.
India's
experience with its security fence in tackling
infiltration has also been positive. In the 1980s, when
India was fighting terrorism in the state of Punjab, it
began fencing the international border with Pakistan in
Punjab. This fence was then extended along the
international border in the state of Rajasthan as well.
The fence was successful in stemming the flow of
intruders, smugglers and weapons into India. Encouraged
by this, India began fencing its frontier in the state
of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
The fencing in of J&K is far more complex
and controversial. The India-Pakistan frontier in J&K
consists of the 198-kilometer-long international border
(which Pakistan does not recognize as the international
border but refers to as the "working border"),
the 778km LoC and the 150km Actual Ground
Position Line in the Siachen.
Fencing in J&K
was first attempted in 1994, but ground to a halt
because of relentless Pakistani shelling. Work along the
international border in Jammu began in early 2001 and
along the LoC last year. Progress was slow initially as
the construction took place in the shadow of Pakistani
shelling, but picked up speed following an
India-Pakistan ceasefire. Construction of the fence is
almost complete.
Unlike the Israeli
barrier, which eats into Palestinian land, the Indian fence
runs along the border. In fact, it does not run on the
border but well inside Indian territory. In some parts
of Poonch (in Jammu) the fence is almost on the LoC,
at other points the fence is about 75m from the LoC
inside Indian territory. There are areas where the
Indian fence runs three kilometers inside Indian
territory. An officer in the Indian army told Asia Times
Online in June last year that unlike the Israeli fence,
"terrain not territorial ambitions determine where the
Indian fence lies".
Where the fence runs into
controversy is along the LoC. Pakistan insists the
territory is disputed and that India, by erecting a
fence along the LoC, is altering the status quo on the
ground. But the Pakistanis themselves are said to be
quietly fencing their disputed border, the Durand Line,
with Afghanistan.
Indian army officers say
the security fence in J&K has helped slow down the
flow of militants into India. But whether the reported
fall in infiltration is because of the barbed wire, the
sensors, the cameras and the electrification of the
fence is a moot point. Indian army chief General N C Vij
recently claimed that "infiltration has gone down", and
attributed it to climate (snow impedes the movement of
militants into India and infiltration has dropped during
winter every year). Vij added that fewer militants were
entering Kashmir as India had put more troops and taken
several steps that include "effective surveillance on
all known routes of infiltration, deployment of ground
sensors, construction of an effective fence along the
LoC and multi-tiered positioning of troops".
Some analysts are not as impressed with the
effectiveness of the fence in stemming infiltration.
Parveen Swami points out that the "almost-complete
border fencing is not as effective as some had hoped.
Three terrorists shot dead near the Line of Control in
the Mandi-Loran area on June 9, for example, were
carrying plastic pipes, designed to penetrate the
fencing. Indian infantry troops who have carried out
tests on the fencing have taken just 10 to 15 minutes to
clear the barrier - suggesting that while it is indeed a
deterrent, the fence is hardly the kind of impregnable
barrier enthusiasts had claimed."
While
infiltration is said to have fallen in some sectors
where the fence has been erected already, there have
been instances where militants have managed to get
through after cutting the wire. The security fence might
not be an impregnable barrier, especially to highly
motivated militants, but its multi-tier defense is
likely to slow down the infiltration.
Proponents of security fences and separation barriers
often cite the effectiveness of the "Peace Line" in
stemming the violence in Northern Ireland. In the 1970s,
the British government began constructing a series
of barriers separating the Protestant areas from
the Catholic neighborhoods in Belfast. These barriers were
walls, as high as 12m in some areas. The number of
walls multiplied over the years from 18 in the early 1990s
to more than 40 today. The expansion of the "Peace Line" is
attributed to its effectiveness in reducing violence.
While the Northern Ireland method might have
played a role in restricting militias of one community
from entering a neighborhood of the other, violence
ultimately reduced in Northern Ireland because of the
peace process, negotiations and the power-sharing
agreement, not because of the security fence. This is
the point that Ariel Sharon and other proponents of the
security fence are reluctant to admit.
Israel's
security fence has played a role in reducing the number
of suicide bombers getting through. But the impact of
the fence on the lives and livelihoods of the
Palestinian people, the immense hardship it has put them
through, has stoked immense rage among Palestinians. It
is true the separation barrier has made it more
difficult for them to strike inside Israel. But such
measures have contributed to the political strengthening
of organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and
support for armed resistance.
Israel will be
secure from suicide bombers only when there is a
shortage of volunteers, and that will happen only when
Palestinian discontent drops. Israel's separation wall
might have stopped 29 suicide bombers in May-June from
getting through to Israel, but the fact that 29
Palestinians were willing to blow themselves up over a
two-month period indicates that there is no shortage of
volunteers.
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