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The Reporter: Jerusalem security fence will leave up to 300,000 Arabs ï¿½insideï¿½
Matti Friedman

While the Defense Ministry is dragging its feet over issuing a full map of its now completely planned security fence around Jerusalem, lawyer Daniel Seidemann, an expert on the Arab part of the capital, has pieced together the route according to land expropriation orders issued by the government. And it shows that what the government is calling the "Jerusalem security envelope," rapidly being constructed north, east, and south of the city, will leave up to 300,000 Arabs -- 250,000 East Jerusalem residents and tens of thousands of West Bankers -- inside the completed fence. The exact number of West Bankers inside the fence will depend on the last refinements to the fenceï¿½s path in the northeast of the city.

Two segments have already been completed. One runs north of the city, between Atarot airport (which is inside the fence) and the Arab villages of Rafat and Kafr Aqab (the latter is part of municipal Jerusalem, but is outside the fence). The other runs in the south, between the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo and the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala.

Just beyond the northwest corner of the city, Seidemannï¿½s map shows a future barrier encircling the Arab neighborhoods of Bir Nabala, Al-Jib, Beit Haninah al-Balad and Al-Judayrah.

The fence on the eastern side of the city will more or less follow the city limits, putting most -- but not all -- of the neighborhood of Abu Dis outside, along with the adjacent Al-Azariyah, while keeping the Arab neighborhoods of Ras al-Amud, Beit Sahur, and most, but not all, of Sur Bahir -- among others -- inside. Main crossing points are planned northeast of the Atarot airport, southeast of Sur Bahir, and between Gilo and Beit Jala, on the way to Rachelï¿½s Tomb.

Seidemann, who says that most of the barrier will be constructed within months, charges that

the Defense Ministryï¿½s failure to release its own map is not bureaucratic lethargy, but an effort to achieve a fait accompli. "The authorities know that this is the biggest change in East Jerusalem since 1967, and the longer it takes people -- Israelis, foreigners, Palestinians -- to catch on, the better."

Not only is the general public being kept in the dark, he charges, but also those directly affected. Land expropriation orders, he says, are not delivered personally to the relevant people, but are posted on telephone poles nearby, and even the contractors engaged in the fenceï¿½s construction are only assigned 150-200 meter-long segments at a time. "It is as if they believe that they can build the first wall around Jerusalem since the 16th century by stealth," says Seidemann.

The Defense Ministry spokesperson called such claims "baseless," adding that maps of those parts of the fence already constructed can be found on the official website of the separation fence project, www.seamzone.mod.gov.il.

A map of the entire Jerusalem-area fence was being prepared, she said, and would be uploaded to the website "within days."

October 6, 2003

Reporter