“Good fences make good neighbors.” So ends the Robert Frost poem “Mending Wall.” It’s a sentiment Israel’s Prime minister Ariel Sharon often evokes when he speaks of the wall, or fence, depending on your view, that Israel is building to separate its citizens from the Palestinians living in the West Bank.
For Israelis who support it, its a vital security weapon, a physical barrier to stop the suicide bombers. For Palestinians, its a Berlin Wall, cutting them from their land, and livelihoods. And now its become a hurdle for President Bush, as he struggles to push forward a road map for peace. His administration is even hinting it could cancel loan guarantees if construction doesn’t stop. Considering “something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
Guests:
Michael Tarazi, legal advisor to the Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO
Labor party member of the Israeli parliament Danny Yatom, former chief of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad
James Rodgers, BBC correspondent currently in Jerusalem.