- JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel
has prepared a plan to extend a security barrier into the eastern part
of the West Bank which, if completed, would completely encircle Palestinians,
a senior security source said on Friday.
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- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, when asked about
the plan in a television interview, confirmed its existence but gave no
details about exactly when or where it would be built.
-
- "At the moment, we are planning the route and when
it will be ready, it will be brought before the government (for approval),"
Sharon said in response to a question about where the eastern portion of
the fence will be located.
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- Israel has already built a 90-mile barrier, which is
expected to extend 180 miles by the end of the year, in what it says an
attempt to keep Palestinian suicide bombers away. Palestinians say the
fence, built inside the West Bank, is a land grab keeping them from their
property.
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- A new eastern extension, if added to the sections already
built, would encircle Palestinians in the West Bank with electronic fences
and concrete walls.
-
- "There is a plan in the Defense Ministry for extending
the fence all around to include the eastern sector," a security source
said.
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- "It was recommended by the Defense Ministry based
on the same parameters of the fence in the west, but to implement it, it
will need a budget and approval by the cabinet," he added.
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- Israel has a number of Jewish settlements in the eastern
West Bank that it says need to be protected against Palestinian attacks.
Scores of Jewish settlers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian gunmen
in the past three years.
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- Washington has been critical of Israel's security barrier
because of its intrusion into territories where Palestinians plan to establish
their state with international backing.
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