Israel may shut off borders

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 20, 2000

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is drawing up an emergency plan to close off Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Israel, anticipating that the seven-year effort to negotiate a land-for-peace treaty with the Palestinians may be at an end.

With the violence that has raged since Sept. 28 showing little sign of abating, and pessimism about reviving the peace talks growing, Barak's government has begun discussing how Israel would define the boundaries of what would effectively be a separate Palestinian state.

Israeli officials stressed that the concept, which they call "unilateral separation," is a contingency plan for a worst-case scenario.

If the peace talks with the Palestinians break down completely, the army would secure Israel's borders with the Palestinian territories, turning what are now checkpoints into the equivalent of international border crossings and eventually building fences.

"If it becomes obvious that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is not at hand, we have to think about a new direction," said Ephraim Sneh, Israel's deputy defense minister and a leading proponent of the concept.

Israeli officials said the plan could be put into effect if Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally declares a Palestinian state, as he has threatened to do many times. In that case, Israel would simply draw the boundaries it feels it needs to ensure its security, rather than haggling with Arafat over where they should be.

Such a map, however, holds little appeal for the Palestinians, and Barak may be brandishing it now in an attempt to persuade Arafat that there is no good alternative to stopping the violence and resuming negotiations.

Palestinian officials attacked the proposal as an attempt to isolate Palestinian towns and lands.

"They are trying to cut Palestinians off into Indian reservations," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a spokesman for Arafat.

Under the Israeli contingency plan, Palestinians could be forced to travel between the West Bank and Gaza via Jordan or Egypt. Most important, the plan could devastate the Palestinian economy by making it much harder for Palestinians to work in Israel, where they draw 20 percent of their income.

About a year ago, Barak convened a committee of experts to look into building electrified fences and elevated highways that would allow Israel to sever itself from the Palestinians. Various ministries prepared studies on the immensely complicated logistics of separating the water, telecommunications and financial systems.

"Good fences make good neighbors," he told U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross at the time.

The idea then was that the separation would take place as part of a final peace treaty that would bring about a Palestinian state.

Gaza is already separated from Israel by an electrified fence and an elaborate border crossing. But the border between the West Bank and Israel is so porous that in some spots it can be crossed unknowingly.

As outlined by Sneh, none of the 144 Jewish settlements that exist in the West Bank and Gaza would be dismantled. Previously, Barak has indicated he was willing to vacate the most isolated and hard-to-defend settlements, and it seems highly unlikely that a separation can work with all of the settlements intact. As it is, the West Bank is a patchwork of territory interspersed with Jewish enclaves.

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