Four years after an Israeli high court initially ruled that the path of the barrier separating Israelis from Palestinians around the West Bank village of Bilin needed to be rerouted, the Israeli military Wednesday began to dismantle parts of the controversial fence.So will the weekly Bil'in protests end when the wall is rebuilt, since they accomplished their putative goal?
Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli central command, told CNN that "We are in advance preparations for removing the old fence so there (are) some elements that are being removed." He acknowledged that the action was being taken in adherence to a subsequent 2008 Israeli court ruling which found sections of the fence had been built illegally on Palestinian land.
"We are implementing the court ruling to the letter," he said. "We negotiated with those that appealed to the high court and sat down with them and basically drew out the new contours for the security fence."
The barrier in Bilin has become the focus of a weekly protest that has been going on for over six years, pitting Palestinians and international activists against Israeli soldiers. Hundreds have been injured in the protests and a number of demonstrators have been killed.
Only if you believe that their goal is really to protest the fence, and not to protest Israel's very existence. And if you do believe that, prepare to be disappointed.
CNN ends the story with this sickening paragraph:
Many Palestinians refer to the barrier as the "apartheid wall" and view it as nothing more than a land grab by Israel to help support and expand settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli government chooses to refer to it as the "security fence," necessary to protect its citizens from what it views as terrorist attacks."What it views as terrorist attacks"? CNN was already making clear that it was writing that sentence from the point of view of Israel, so that extra Reuters-style disclaimer to imply that people blowing themselves up in restaurants might not really be terrorism is beyond disgusting.
Note also that there are plenty of Jewish communities, with tens of thousands of people, beyond the fence. How exactly does the fence help "support and expand" those settlements?
(h/t Yasher-El)