Separation barrier

Israeli separation barrier at Abu Dis, near eastern Jerusalem, separates two neighborhoods that are predominantly Arab. June 2004.

The term separation barrier refers to a wall or fence constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate two populations. These structures vary in placement with regard to international borders and topography.

The term originated to describe the various fences, walls and other barriers Israel created to separate Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza from Israel, to separate various Palestinian towns and villages within the occupied territories from each other, as well as to separate Egypt from Israel.

The term "separation barrier" also has been applied to other such walls or fences.

Current separation barriers

Israel

The separation barrier around Jerusalem, as of 2009. Dark red line existing; pink to be built.

Due to Israel's specific situation of being at war and conflict with much of its Middle Eastern environment, separation barriers and walls have been and remain an issue of major military (and often also political) concern:

• Jerusalem: During the 1950s and 1960s a fortified separation barrier also divided much of Jerusalem to separate Jordanian and Israeli-controlled sectors of the city. It was pulled down in the immediate aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, when the eastern part of the city came under Israeli rule. Currently, the route of the separation barrier in Jerusalem cuts off residents of the Jerusalem municipality from Jerusalem proper.
• Lebanon and Syria: Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria have sophisticated security barriers, including electronic surveillance and warning systems. The barrier along the Lebanese border follows the lines of the 1949 Armistice and was laid down in coordination with the UN, the government anxious to make clear that it had withdrawn completely from Lebanese territory (excepting the ongoing dispute on the Shaba Farms).
  • The barrier on the Syrian border on the Golan Heights reflects the situation in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, when Israel retained the territory conquered in 1967 except for handing back the town of Kuneitra. The Syrian government has repeatedly demanded the return of the entire Golan, but has made no specific issue of Israel erecting a security barrier along the border as it presently stands.

Israel-Egypt separation barrier circa 2012

• Egypt: Israel saw no need to fortify the Sinai Desert border with Egypt after the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty. The fence along that border was always more a marker than an effective barrier, and has become rusty and swamped by shifting sand dunes. The porous border has become the scene of extensive drug trafficking and the smuggling of women, typically from Third World and East European countries, who are subsequently forced into prostitution, as well as the entry of various refugees, asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants from various African countries, notably Sudanese fleeing the genocide in Darfur. There were also isolated cases of infiltration by armed Palestinians, and apprehension that they would increase. In December 2005 the government of Israel proposed building a £200 million security barrier along the Egyptian border, but as of late 2007 the funds have not been actually allocated.
• Jordan: The border of Israel's territory with Jordan, mostly in the Negev Desert along the Arabah, is considered the most peaceful of the country's borders, due to traditional good relations with Jordan's Hashemite Dynasty. In March 2004, Israel and Jordan commenced a joint project to build a desert science centre on their shared border. They have taken down a stretch of the border fence between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea for the campus.
  • As well as the in the Negev, Israel also controls the West Bank's border with Jordan in the Jordan Valley. Along this border there is a security barrier with a two-way aim, designed to stop both infiltration from Jordan into the Israeli-controlled territory and the passage of West Bank Palestinians, uncontrolled by Israeli officials, into Jordan.

Map of existing or planned separation barrier between West Bank and Israel, as of 2005

• Occupied Territories: Israel's most critical and volatile relations are with its direct neighbors, the Palestinians, which are reflected in maintaining separation barriers between Israel proper and the Occupied Territories, with the declared aim of and subsequent success in preventing infiltration by suicide bombers.
  • The Israeli Gaza Strip barrier involves a security barrier along Israel's 1949 Armistice lines. There is also the security barrier along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt (see Philadelphi Route), erected when Israel was in direct military control of the area. Though Israeli forces were withdrawn in 2005, the Government of Israel retains a declared interest in the area, especially due to alleged large-scale smuggling of arms from Sinai into the Strip, and insists upon the Egyptians and Palestinians maintaining intact the barrier between their respective territories – such insistence backed by sometimes open threats to otherwise resume direct Israeli military control. This has been cited by Palestinians and others who assert that the Gaza Strip remains an Occupied Territory despite the Israeli Disengagement from Gaza in 2005.
  • The Israeli West Bank barrier is being built as a fence with wide margins and sophisticated electronic surveillance in rural areas, and an eight-meter-high wall in urban areas. Of all Israel's separation barriers, it is the most controversial – between Israelis and Palestinians, internationally, and also inside the Israeli society itself. The controversy stems mainly from the government's decision not to follow Israel's 1949 Armistice lines (Green Line) but rather build the barrier within the West Bank - in some stretches, deeply within. Opponents of the project (who usually call it "The Wall" rather than "Barrier" or "Fence") say that this proves its purpose is not to stop suicide bombers – which would be equally served by a fence along the Green Line – but by the intention, effectively, to annexe parts of the West Bank, especially those where Israeli settlements have been established, as well as water sources – and to define the future borders with Palestine unilaterally and ahead of negotiations. This position was supported by the International Court of Justice at The Hague, which ruled that Israel had the right to fortify its own border but that building a barrier inside an Occupied Territory constituted a violation of International Law; the government of Israel, however, disputes this interpretation and refuses to abide by this ruling. For its part, the Israeli Supreme Court held that building inside the West Bank is in itself legal, but it but ordered some changes to the route of the barrier where the judges considered the original route to cause severe damage to Palestinian daily life – especially in separating Palestinian villagers from their land. Some radical Israeli groups, such as Anarchists Against the Wall, actively participate in protests against the barrier together with the villagers. As of late 2007, the barrier – originally slated to be completed by the end of 2005 – is far from complete, and further construction was stopped, officially for lack of funds.

Northern Ireland

A "peace line" in Belfast

In Belfast, Derry and other settlements in Northern Ireland, barriers called "peace lines" have been built to separate the two main communities. Their purpose is to minimize inter-communal violence between Irish nationalists/republicans (who mainly self-identify as Irish and/or Catholic) and unionists/loyalists (who mainly self-identify as British and/or Protestant). They were first built following the 1969 riots and beginning of the "Troubles". They have continued to be built and expanded since the Belfast Agreement of 1998. In 2008 a public discussion began about how and when the barriers could be removed. On 1 September 2011 Belfast City Council agreed to develop a strategy regarding the removal of peace walls. In January 2012, the International Fund for Ireland launched a Peace Walls funding programme to support local communities who want to work towards beginning to remove the walls.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has begun construction of a Saudi-Yemen barrier between its territory and Yemen to prevent the unauthorized movement of people and goods into and out of the Kingdom. Anthony H. Cordesman has called it a "separation barrier."

Uzbekistan

In 1999 Uzbekistan began construction of the Uzbek-Kyrgyzstan barrier - a barbed wire fence to secure their border with Kyrgyzstan. In 2001 Uzbekistan fortified the Uzbek-Afghanistan barrier border fence with Afghanistan.

See also

• Defensive walls
• List of fortifications
• List of walls
• List of cities with defensive walls
• Buffer zone
• Israel and Egypt–Gaza Strip barrier
• Israeli West Bank barrier
• Israel–Egypt barrier

External links

• Security Fences around the World
• Security Fences in The Atlantic Monthly
• Article about CityWalls on Erasmuspc
• "Obama's Border Fence", NOW on PBS, July 3, 2009.
• "Around Globe, Walls Spring Up to Divide Neighbors" Page Not Found, Reuters, April 30, 2007.
• Border to Border, Wall to Wall, Fence to Fence