cartome.org

12 May 2002

Green Line communities raising funds abroad for security fence

David Rudge May. 12, 2002
Jerusalem Post

Heads of communities along the Green Line are trying to raise funds abroad, especially among American Jews, for a NIS 1b. security fence along a 350 kilometer-long stretch along the line, because of the security dangers posed by the Palestinian Authority.

Danny Atar, head of the Gilboa Regional Council and the Forum of Green Line Communities, said residents are tired of waiting for the government to keep it promise to built a fence.

Some agricultural communities along the "seam line" have begun building an electronic fence connected to a regional surveillance system.

Some 60 km. of fencing has been erected, and residents hope another 60 km. will be completed by the end of the year.
The Agriculture Ministry has contributed to the funding; farmers have been suffering ongoing theft of livestock and equipment.

The communities are concerned they will not be able to complete the fence – running along most of the Green Line – without outside assistance.

They maintain the government has been promising to construct such a fence for some time, but pledges have yet to be translated into deeds and the Green Line remains open.

"Unfortunately, we are hearing a great deal of talk... but nobody is actually doing anything about the issue," Atar told reporters yesterday.

"In practice, the months and years have passed, and we are not seeing the government implementing that to which it has obligated itself according to all the laws of the land," Atar told Israel Radio yesterday.