David Brinn
Jerusalem Post, Aug. 25, 2023
“Regardless of his ideology or motives, I’ll still keep telling visitors that I really believe that Israel would like nothing better than to demolish the security barriers and dismantle the checkpoints. But until that’s possible – if that ever comes – I’m thankful every day that they exist.”
Whenever I bring visitors to the country into the West Bank, the image of the grim, towering security wall is a daunting one to explain. As are the checkpoints in which soldiers inspect the documents and vehicles of Palestinian drivers but let Jewish Israelis pass unfettered.
I explain how the unfortunate reality arose due to the Second Intifada some 20 years ago. Israelis were being blown up left and right on buses, both inside and outside the Green Line that delineates the pre- and post-1967 Israel.
The construction of the security barrier and extra checkpoints throughout the West Bank have saved countless lives. Terrorists were no longer able to make their way undetected to perpetrate their crimes against humanity, and the level of terrorism dropped drastically.
A blight on the landscape, and an affront to an “open borders” policy that freedom-loving people aspire to, the security measures followed the doctrine that virtually all Israelis concluded back then – the right of Israelis to travel on roads in the West Bank and Israel proper and arrive home safely – superseded the freedom of movement of the Palestinian population.
That’s been the working thesis up to today. And despite the rising incidents of terrorism, both inside Israel and on West Bank roads, those security measures have remained effective.
West Bank checkpoints: An effective and necessary security measure
So, it’s surprising that when National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir espoused pretty much that same sentiment last week on N12, following the horrific murder of Batsheva Nigri on Route 60 near Hebron, he was skewered and called racist.
“My right and that of my wife and my children, to travel on the roads in Judea and Samaria, is more important than the freedom of movement for Arabs. I’m sorry Muhammed [Magadi],” he told an Israeli-Arab journalist on the panel. “That is the reality, that is the truth. My right to life takes precedence over your freedom of movement,” he said.
The comments reached Washington, where a State Department spokesperson stated, “We strongly condemn Minister Ben-Gvir’s inflammatory comments on the freedom of movement of Palestinian residents of the West Bank.
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