Kibbutz’s belief in co-existence hindered security fence ————————————————————————– —— Matthew Gutman Nov. 12, 2002 ————————————————————————– —— Accelerating the construction of the NIS 950 million, 128 kilometer security fence does not coincide with the Defense Ministry’s budget cuts, a security source told Israel Radio Monday.

However, the Defense Ministry quickly denied this, saying Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz considers the project of the highest importance and that all resources available were being poured into construction.

This revelation comes after many Kibbutz Metzer members – reeling from the loss of four residents and a visitor in Sunday’s terror attack – fumed that had the fence already been built, the attack could have been averted.

Just a month ago, however, The Jerusalem Post described how Metzer members demonstrated against the current path of the fence, which is to pass just a few hundred meters from the kibbutz. When notified that large swaths of olive groves from the neighboring village of Kafin were to be expropriated for the fence project, Metzer members began to protest.

They believed it unfair that the fence should pass east of the Green Line, cutting off Kafin’s residents from more than 60 percent of their land.

They demanded that the fence be rerouted to its original route hugging the Green Line.

A meeting between Metzer members and Defense Ministry officials slated for Monday, but canceled due to the tragedy, was to address the rerouting of the fence. Due to security considerations, the Defense Ministry deems the fence’s rerouting to spare Kafin’s olives impossible.

After the Defense Ministry was originally slow to respond to a letter sent to defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, asking that the land be more equitably divided, kibbutz members and some of Kafin’s 9,000 residents held a joint demonstration in their fields, separated by a metal railing.

A month prior to the attack, Metzer spokesman Dov Avital told the Post that “it’s unnecessary to move the fence eastward. After all, in the end, when there is a permanent agreement, the border will be here, on the Green Line. We have no territorial claims on Kafin. So why cause all this hardship now? Why create bitterness and rage that will destroy the relationships we have built and will lead to more terrorists and more death on both sides?”

Others, like activist Shuli Dichter, a resident of neighboring Ma’anit, believe there could be a direct correlation between what he considers the unjust division of lands and the terror attack.

“This could be their response,” he said.

Metzer is one of the few communities within the Green Line surrounded by Arab villages. Until the attack, there were very few incidents of violence emanating from Metzer’s Palestinian neighbors.

Just last week a Kafin resident told The Jewish Telegraph: “When the border police who patrol this area catch us coming across from Kafin, they let us continue on our way when we tell them that we are going to visit our friends on the kibbutz.” ————————————————————————– —— This article can also be read at

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&c id=1036987683157 ————————————————————————– —— Copyright 1995-2002 The Jerusalem Post – http://www.jpost.com/