kikipeepers asked
JERUSALEM — Israel is considering two plans to extend a barrier separating Israelis from Palestinians, officials said Sunday. Both would likely claim more land for Israel and muddy progress on a U.S.-backed plan for Palestinian statehood. Israel says the electronic fences and cement blocks that Israelis have been calling a 'separation fence' are meant to protect Israel proper and Jewish settlements from attacks by Palestinian militants. The barriers do not run strictly along the border of undisputed Israeli territory; instead they bite in several areas into the West Bank, which the Palestinians claim as the heartland of a future state, incorporating thousands of Jewish settlers -- and Palestinians. Two proposals revealed Sunday would increase the amount of land the Palestinians would lose compared to previous plans, although an exact figure was not available. Israeli officials said the barriers could be demolished and moved if and when a permanent border is set for a Palestinian state. Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat accused Israel of trying to sabotage international peace efforts at a time when the world's attention is diverted by the fighting in Iraq....
168 answers · 0 comments
Answer this yourself in the app
See how this splits by age, gender, and region in the app.
