Petitioners Warn Against Fence Route
Excerpts:
“Former O/C Southern Command, Maj-Gen. (Res.) Yom-Tov Samia warned on Wednesday that a section of the route of the fence near the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion would enable Palestinian snipers to hit cars on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.”
“Samia spoke during a High Court of Justice hearing on a petition submitted by residents of Mevasseret Zion against a section of the fence that the army has placed on the southern side of a hill overlooking the capital.”
“Samia said the hill, known as Hill 847, is the highest point in the area and of critical security importance. Originally, the fence had been designed to skirt the hill on the northern side, so that it would have been in Israeli-controlled territory.”
“But large parts of a 40-kilometer section of the original route of the fence northwest of Jerusalem were rejected by the High Court on the grounds that they caused disproportional harm to the Palestinian residents of the area.”
“The army went back to the drawing boards and presented a new route. This time, the hill was left on the Palestinian side of the fence.”
“Samia also argued that part of the new route is located only 300 meters from homes in Mevasseret… ‘Three hundred meters is extremely close.’”
“He also warned that ‘two Palestinian snipers could close the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway for eight hours.’”