Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended plans to build a controversial barrier around the West Bank, insisting it will encourage peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
”Speaking professionally, it’s a good fence. A good fence will bring, I believe, good friendship,” he told NBC television in a taped interview broadcast on Wednesday, evoking the line from the Robert Frost poem ”Mending Wall” which says that ”good fences make good neighbours”.
Sharon downplayed a remark attributed to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, likening the barrier to the Berlin Wall.
”As long as Yasser Arafat is there, still controlling most of the Palestinian armed forces and security services and making every effort to undermine Abu Mazen (Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas) and to weaken him, the problem is that a real solution is postponed,” Sharon said.
Speaking alongside US President George Bush in Washington on Tuesday, Sharon declared that construction of what he calls a ”security fence” around the West Bank would continue.
Asked whether he felt peace was within closer reach after Tuesday’s meeting, the Israeli prime minister said: ”I think it’s closer. I would like to move forward as fast as possible.”
”All of us would like to live in peace,” he added.
Sharon was to meet with US Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday before returning to Israel. – Sapa-AFP