Haaretz
Tamuz 4, 5765
European Union foreign policy
chief Javier Solana criticized Israel on Monday for the fence it is
building around Jerusalem, and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia
said it made a farce of efforts to restart the peace
process.
Israel faced new pressure over the fence a day after the
cabinet approved final
details of the 60-kilometer fence, which is halfway built and will
eventually cut off some 55,000 Arab residents in four neighborhoods from
their city, while including some 30,000 Jewish West Bank settlers on the
Jerusalem side.
Meanwhile, Minister Haim Ramon (Labor) said Monday
the Jerusalem fence is meant to ensure a Jewish majority in the capital as
well as keep out terrorists, contradicting government statements that it
is solely a temporary security measure.
"I want to point out that
in Jerusalem alone close to 250 people have been murdered during the
intifada, most of them in suicide attacks. The fence was born, first and
foremost, to prevent them from continuing to murder us," Ramon told Israel
Radio. He added that the fence "also makes [Jerusalem] more Jewish."
Solana, arriving for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders,
said the EU was against the Jerusalem segment for the same reason it
opposed the larger West Bank separation fence - because it cuts into the
West Bank.
"We think that Israel has the right to defend itself,
but we think that the fence which will stand outside the territory of
Israel is not legally proper and it creates also humanitarian problems,"
he told reporters in Jerusalem.
He said the Jerusalem fence would
also have a symbolic effect, as the city is holy to Jews, Christians and
Muslims.
Qureia responded harshly to Sunday's cabinet decision,
calling the Jerusalem fence "theft in broad daylight" of land Palestinians
seek for the capital of their future state.
"This decision makes a
farce of any talk about peace and turns the Gaza withdrawal into a useless
initiative," he said in a statement, referring to Israel's planned
evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip starting in
mid-August.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa called for
stepped-up protests against construction of the barrier.
Israeli
officials said the Jerusalem segment would separate one-fifth of
Jerusalem's Palestinian residents but that crossing points would be set up
to ease their movement.
Palestinian officials put the actual number
of Palestinians to be cut off from jobs, schools and hospitals in
Jerusalem and surrounding areas at about 100,000.