Israel’s Security Fence
Oppressive
Unjustified
Illegal
Immoral
The Russian government is mulling the construction of a security barrier along the border with Chechnya similar to Israel’s West Bank security fence as part of its efforts to combat Muslim terror, The Jerusalem Post has learned.Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra met on Monday with Dmitry Kozak, head of counterterrorism in Chechnya and the Kremlin’s envoy to southern Russia, for talks on the effectiveness of the security fence and Israel’s overall success in fighting Palestinian terror.The talks, Israeli officials said, focused primarily on the construction of a security fence. Kozak told the participants he would bring the issue up back in Russia and recommend it as a viable means to fight terror. Just last month, a small army of Chechen fighters launched a massive attack on police and army in the town of Nalchik in Russia’s turbulent Caucasus. Dozens were killed in the attack.“They want to learn more about fighting terror,” former Israel Police chief Shlomo Aharonishky, who is serving as a consultant for the Russians, told the Post. “Kozak has been assigned to prepare a plan on how to fight terror and it will include the construction of a security fence. His visit here is to learn from us how to build the fence and how to do it.”
Even though it could be argued that this development was not entirely unexpected (given Russia’s objection in 2004 to the authority of the ICJ to rule on the legality of the security fence), Russian attempts to draw distinctions between neo palestinian terrorism and that of the Chechnyan kind, as well as their denials of any cooperation with Israel against international terrorism, render this a rather interesting development.
