MIDDLE EAST: Before the dispute over its construction of a West Bank security barrier became a subject of international controversy, Israel had planned to mark yesterday's completion of the first 123-kilometre section of the fence with a festive ceremony, writes David Horovitz.
Chastened by the Bush administration's manifest disquiet with the barrier - which departs from the pre-1967 border to cut into the West Bank in places - Israel cancelled that celebration. Instead, at Kalkilya, the West Bank city that most closely adjoins the pre-1967 line, Palestinian, international and some Israeli protesters gathered to castigate the construction, throw paint in the colours of the Palestinian flag at areas where the barrier is a wall, and scrawl the first of what are sure to be enormous quantities of graffiti with such sentiments as "free my land".
Numerous suicide bombers profited from the pre-barrier easy access to Israel from Kalkilya, among them the bomber who killed 21 Israeli youngsters in a blast at the Dolphinarium nightclub on the Tel Aviv beach two years ago.
And an unrepentant Amos Yaron, the Israeli defence ministry director who is supervising the barrier's construction, insisted yesterday that the building would continue, because "it's my job to protect the citizens of Israel".
Kalkilya is now fenced, or walled, off from Israel on three sides, and army watchtowers rise from above the barrier. Access to the city is only via a slender channel to the east. "We're living in a prison," complained the Mayor, Marouf Zahran.
It was not surprising, given such Israeli control, that in talks on Wednesday with the Palestinian Security Minister Mohammad Dahlan, Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz proposed Kalkilya, along with Jericho, as the next two cities from which Israel would withdraw its troops. It was equally unsurprising that Mr Dahlan rejected the offer, telling the Israelis that he wanted control instead of Nablus and Ramallah, where Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat remains under virtual Israeli siege.
Mr Mofaz and Mr Dahlan are to meet again in the next few days. In the meantime, the Israeli army has actually pulled out of Kalkilya, where Palestinian police jeeps, rather than Israeli military vehicles, are now on patrol. Another issue of dispute, Israel's holding of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, flared into violence yesterday when many of the 400 inmates of the Shikma jail in Ashkelon rioted, and two guards and 20 prisoners were slightly injured as the warders used tear-gas to help restore order. The riots began after warders found a prisoner carrying a sketch of the prison layout, suspected a breakout was being planned, and tried to begin a search of prisoners' cells.
Further Palestinian anger was stirred yesterday by the passage in the Knesset of a law that denies automatic Israeli citizenship or residency to Palestinians who marry Israelis.
On the Israeli side, by contrast, there is only one issue of particular frustration, but it is a considerable one: the continuing refusal of the Palestinian leadership to ensure a long-term halt to bombings and shootings. Israel wants Palestinian authorities to arrest extremists, raid bomb-making factories, prevent Hamas from developing rockets, and to intercept weapons smuggling via the Egyptian border.
"We will not arrest activists and we will not confront them as long as the ceasefire is intact," said Mr Dahlan. Mr Mofaz has warned the army to prepare for a new wave of terrorism should the ceasefire fail.