On June 6, the Knesset voted down for the third time a proposed bill by opposition lawmaker Omer Barlev of the Zionist Camp mandating completion of the barrier between Israel and the West Bank, which he views as vital for terrorism prevention. Opposition to the bill was led by the three main coalition parties: Likud, HaBayit HaYehudi and Yisrael Beitenu.

In explaining the bill he authored, Barlev said it was designed to force the government and the Defense Ministry to complete construction of the barrier within 18 months as a “national priority.” Although the bill specifically states that the sections of the barrier that would be built along some 100 kilometers (62 miles), as well as those already built, would only serve as a counterterrorism measure and “are not an expression of a different diplomatic border line,” the political right is convinced the bill has diplomatic and political significance. In other words, the right is concerned that an Israeli initiative of putting up a fence that separates West Bank settlements from Palestinian villages around them would constitute an official endorsement of a future border between Israel and a Palestinian state.

Israel started building the barrier in June 2002, at the height of the second intifada (2000-2005) in which hundreds of Israelis were killed in Palestinian terror attacks. Until then, the absence of a fence between sovereign Israel and the area it conquered in the 1967 war allowed terrorists to reach the heart of Israeli towns and villages in a matter of minutes or hours.

Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and some of his ministers objected to the proposed barrier for a long time. However, they were forced to give in to public pressure that grew with every deadly terror attack, and massive budgets were allocated for the project. Within a few years, several hundred kilometers of a “smart” security barrier went up, and in some parts, including the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, a high cement wall was erected to protect against sniper fire.