Israel: Israeli defence minister Amir Peretz has ordered a review of the massive separation barrier Israel is building in the West Bank, in a move that could push the route closer to the 1967 border and impact on the ultimate line that separates Israelis and Palestinians.
Mr Peretz wants the barrier to impinge less on the daily lives of Palestinians and he believes the route should be determined by security and not political considerations, the daily Haaretz reported yesterday. In other words, the defence minister wants to ensure that the barrier is not used as a means for expanding settlements in the West Bank.
The defence ministry confirmed the report that Mr Peretz was reviewing the route of the barrier, but gave no details.
"There are more than a few places where there is indeed a deviation whose entire goal is to appropriate lands where there are future plans ... to expand the settlements," Shaul Arieli, a retired colonel who conducts tours of the barrier and has rendered opinions to the High Court on the issue, told Army Radio.
Mr Peretz's decision comes in the wake of a High Court order last week that the defence ministry reroute a section of the barrier near the West Bank town of Qalqilya because it was being used to expand the Jewish settlement of Tzufin in the area.
The court has ruled in favour of Palestinian petitioners in the past, forcing the state to reroute the barrier in several places. Israeli human rights organisations say there are more than 10 places where the route is aimed at expanding settlements and is not determined by security considerations, Haaretz reported.
Israel says it is building the 700km barrier to keep Palestinian suicide bombers from entering its cities, but Palestinians insist its primary purpose is to enable Israel to annex West Bank land on which they hope to build a future state. The barrier has also created hardships for many Palestinians, cutting off farmers from their land and dividing neighbourhoods in some areas.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has a plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, has indicated that the barrier would be the basis for a future border between Israel and the Palestinians, with some 10 per cent of West Bank land remaining in Israeli hands.
If Mr Peretz has his way and security concerns ultimately dictate the route, there could be some dramatic changes, especially in the Jerusalem area.
Currently, the barrier leaves close to 200,000 residents of Arab East Jerusalem on the Israeli side.