A Fair Price for Security?

There are a number of errors in the presentation by Peter Philipp. Perhaps his first is his failure to tell his readers the purpose of the security barrier. It is to protect the citizens of Israel from Palestinian suicide-bombers who kill indiscriminately. The second error is to talk about Palestinian 'soil'. The soil which is spoken about is the historical land of Israel. There has never been a Palestinian Arab state in this land. There have been and are Arabs who live in this land. The land which is involved and is called by the world ' The West Bank' is in fact the heartland of Biblical Israel. The third error concerns the nature of the Court. They are like Mr. Phillip totally unsympathetic to Israeli losses of life. Their one-sidedness and basic unfairness is a priori. Everyone knew what the ruling would be beforehand. -- Shalom Freedman

Israel's barrier is a prelude to its annexation of what is left of Palestine. The barrier is a test issue Israel is using to see how far it can go in usurping Palestinian lands. So far, the World Court, world opinion, and basic decency and humanity have not prevented Israel from its continuing domination of the Palestinians. The barrier is one of many atrocities that Israelis have waged on Palestinians including: using Palestinian citizens as shields in combat zones, destroying houses deemed "dangerous," forcing most Palestinians to live in refugee camps, abusing women, children, and the elderly at border crossings, etc.
Internally, Israel is recognized in its abuse of its own Arab-Israeli citizens where Jewish neighbors refuse even to speak to their fellow Arab citizens next door. If Israel is a model democracy for the rest of the Middle East, heaven help us... -- Roger Geertz Gonzalez, USA

It is heartening to see a decision in favor of the Palestinians regarding the Israeli "Apartheid Wall" on Palestinian land. I can only hope now, that when the issue of Israel's rejection of the court's ruling is raised in the United Nations, that America's veto will not be used in the same tediously predictable fashion. The willingness of the US to use their veto to shield Israel, whilst they flagrantly flout international law, would be a joke if it were not quite so tragic for the Palestinian people. The right to a veto should be balanced against the sensible use of such a right. It is time also for the government of my own country to swallow their fear of offending the sensibilities of Bush & co, and to condemn Israeli atrocities with the readiness that they condemn the acts of the Palestinian "terrorists". -- Howard

The world community should be prepared to boycott Israel with the harshest sanctions if it does not remove the wall from Palestinian territory and end the illegal expropriation of Palestinian land. -- Larry Saltzman

The international community has shown anti-Israeli bias and hatred over so many years that it does not have any moral or legal basis to judge Israel's actions. -- Jed

Reader's Comments: A Fair Price for Security? cont.

As an Israeli, I honestly don't understand what the world community wants from us. We offered the Palestinians a state in 2000 (something their Jordanian "brothers" never did), and they rejected it, preferring to actively seek out and kill Jewish civilians instead. As a passive non-violent measure we erect a wall to protect our civilians. The wall, for security reasons crosses the pre-67 borders (which are not internationally recognized as a border), at some points, causing inconvenience on the Palestinian side. What would you have us do? I prefer inconvenienced Palestinians to dead Jews. Apparently the ICJ and your editorial board don't.
-- C. Hurwitz

I'm from Portland, Maine, USA, but am in Iraq with the US Army. I see Arabs and talk with them every day, since I help supervise Iraqi workers on this army base. Israel seems to miss the essential fact: they are living in Arab territory. The more their "legal system" bolsters that denial, as for instance in the allowance of prisoner interrogation measures that we have recently rejected in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the more one despairs of the entire notion of a Jewish state in Palestine: it seems to go from bad to worse in terms of righteousness. -- Christopher C Rushlau

The international community should react to Israel's wall by shutting its mouth and tending to its own affairs. The international community is largely to blame for this mess, and lacks the moral standing to do anything more than apologize to Israel. In an attempt to curry favor with the Arab world and its oil reserves, the international community created a bizarre, indefensible national boundary for a nation that they really didn't want to exist in the first place. Then, when the Arab world attempted to destroy this fledgling nation on multiple occasions, the international community roared with indignation against the victim of the assault because Israel took back some of the land that was historically theirs, and which they had spent blood, sweat, and tears to improve after centuries of neglect under the Turks! The Israelis have shown remarkable restraint in the face of attempted genocide all through their history. How dare we criticize them. -- Michael Kreger

While there are regular attacks occurring, the terrorist leaders will continue to use their rhetoric and propaganda to enlist 'martyrs' to join the fight to drive the Jews into the sea. With the cessation of attacks and effective separation from Israel, the Palestinian people may finally begin to realize that their aspirations have been squandered by leaders who have used murder in their quest for power. The protection of its citizens is the first priority for the Israeli government. Once this has been achieved with the security fence - and it will be achieved - then the time will come for negotiating a true peace and dealing with issues such as Palestinian sovereignty and the positioning of final borders. Hopefully, the Palestinian people will by that time have realized that peace has never been the goal for the murderers in their midst. -- Andy Hart

A total economic embargo against Israel until they withdraw from the occupied territories. They have caused the whole problem in the Middle East. -- Phil Greene

I would like to propose that all 15 ICJ judges be requested to live in Jerusalem and travel by public bus for the entire period of time as they ponder on the decision. Maybe the concern for their personal safety will make them understand the dangers faced by each Israeli child when he/she boards a bus. The same is valid for everyone that argues that the wall is not the right decision. As long as we deal with terrorism and the "glorious death of martyrs" concept there is no solution than more walls around us. -- Jack Abray

It's about time that the world started to put pressure on Israel to stop this illegal occupation. Why is it that other countries are subject to international treaties and rulings, but Israel and the US are always exempt and do whatever they wish? As it is the US backs Israel, and no matter what the world says, Israel can do what it wishes as does the US; of course US propaganda helps. Its time for all other countries to unite and stand up to the US and Israel once and for all. -- John P. Keller