Is This About That Israel Fence?

Ever heard of what some Texans call the "Mexican side" of the U.S. border fence?

No? Well, this is what I learned from this story:-

There's an 18-feet steel-and-concrete border wall erected by the American government and the wall was built to satisfy a law, passed in 2006 and 2008, that authorized 700 miles of fence on the southern border, 315 miles of it in Texas. President Bush said the fence would make the border safer and was "an important step toward immigration reform."


Because of a decades-old treaty with Mexico prohibiting building in the Rio Grande floodplain, the government built its border fence more than a mile north of the snaky river, trapping tens of thousands of acres of Texas--land in Cameron and Hidalgo counties--on the wrong side of the fence. Some Texans live completely on the other side of the $6.2 million-a-mile wall. Others had their property split in half by the fence, after the government seized portions of their land. At least 200 people in Cameron County had some of their land seized for the fence.


Some residents worry that the government will close the gaps in the fence. A complete wall wouldn't let him get to his house from the road, which is on the "American" side. The road also provides access to his farm, which grows sugar cane, grapefruit, corn, and other crops, for his eight employees.


Earlier this year, Homeland Security told landowners that it planned to close the gaps with 15-feet-wide gates that would have keypads on them. Each landowner would get a personal code to open the gate, and the government would be in charge of who else might be allowed to use each code.


Technically the residents in the area are in the United States, but during a drug-cartel gun battle in June just across the Mexican border, several Border Patrol agents lined up on the north side of the fence and didn't venture beyond it. The impression was that the Border Patrol was securing the fence line in times of trouble, instead of the actual border.


A spokeswoman for the Customs and Border Patrol said agents patrol both sides of the fence.


The government didn't offer to buy the land it walled off from the rest of Texas, or to compensate people for the subsequent devaluation. It offered only to pay for the strips of land that were seized for the fence's path.

Does this sound something similar to Israel's predicament?

Is Israel acting worse than the US? Better? The same?

^

One Reason Shiloh Has Not Surrounded Itself With A Fence

Reported:

The civil administration has drafted plans to reroute illegal security fences constructed around settlements in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, including the one that encircles the community of Ofra, according to a statement the civil administration made Sunday to the High Court of Justice...in response to a petition against the fence...filed by the non-governmental organization Yesh Din with the help of attorneys Michael Sfard, Shlomy Zachery and Avisar Lev.

They charged that the fence was illegally constructed on land belonging to the Palestinian villages of Silwad and Ein Yabrud and that is presence was preventing Palestinian farmers from accessing their lands.

In a statement to the court the civil administration said that it was preparing a new route...

No fence, no petition, no court case.

^

Such Semantics!

What is this?

"physical infrastructure enhancements"

A fence.

What does "operational control" mean?

"the prevention of all unlawful entries...including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband."

What does "Reinforced fencing" mean?

"2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors—

(i) extending from 10 miles west of the Tecate, California, port of entry to 10 miles east of the Tecate, California, port of entry;
(ii) extending from 10 miles west of the Calexico, California, port of entry to 5 miles east of the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry;
(iii) extending from 5 miles west of the Columbus, New Mexico, port of entry to 10 miles east of El Paso, Texas;
(iv) extending from 5 miles northwest of the Del Rio, Texas, port of entry to 5 miles southeast of the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry; and
(v) extending 15 miles northwest of the Laredo, Texas, port of entry to the Brownsville, Texas, port of entry.

Amazing, eh?

The Fence and the Law

The American fence, that is:-

Challenges Arise to Border Fence Project

Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.

Last week, Mr. Chertoff issued waivers suspending more than 30 laws he said could interfere with “the expeditious construction of barriers” in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The list included laws protecting the environment, endangered species, migratory birds, the bald eagle, antiquities, farms, deserts, forests, Native American graves and religious freedom.

The secretary of homeland security was granted the power in 2005 to void any federal law that might interfere with fence building on the border. For good measure, Congress forbade the courts to second-guess the secretary’s determinations. So long as Mr. Chertoff is willing to say it is necessary to void a given law, his word is final.

Oops, There Goes Up Another Fence

Israel will build a fence along parts of the Egyptian border

Israel will soon begin construction of a security fence along certain parts of the Israeli-Egyptian border, it was decided Wednesday...

The fence will be built in the northern area of Nitzana and in the southern Eilat region...

The construction of the fence is expected to last several years and may force budget cuts across the board at an estimated NIS 1 billion.