During his visit to the White House, Ariel Sharon justified Israel’s construction of the 375-mile so-called “security fence” on the grounds that “Good fences make good neighbors.” This was a line used by one of America’s greatest poets, Robert Frost, in a poem called “The Wall.” If Sharon, however, actually knew the poem, he did not bother to quote the first line which is, “Something there is which doesn’t like a wall.”

The massive “security fence” which the Israelis are slicing through Palestinian farms and villages is an obscenity which no reasonable person could like. It seeks to set in stone and concrete the separation of Israelis from Palestinians. Once in place, it could easily herald the expulsion of Israeli Arabs from Israel itself and the establishment of a new system of apartheid funded in large measure by the US taxpayer.

The Bush White House had better really mean it when it demands that Israel stop building this wicked barrier. We have to hope that it is not yet another case of the Americans protesting loudly while privately letting the Israelis know that they can press on with their oppressive policies without fear of genuine challenge. Israel is already going through an elaborate charade over the dismantling of illegal settlements. It allows one or two high-profile actions against Zionist settlers — which often amount to no more than an unmanned derelict caravan and a chemical lavatory — to fill the world’s television screens, but is less keen to show other settlements. Yet each of these “dismantled settlements” counts in the statistics that the Sharon government is using to prove that it is really acting against Zionist seizure of Palestinian lands.

The other peace move for which Sharon is being getting praised is the release of Palestinian prisoners — one of the basic demands of the Palestinians. Those who are familiar with Sharon’s operating style are not sure if it is a pure goodwill gesture. Could he be entertaining the hope that one of them would provide him with the excuse to send a helicopter gunship to fight “terrroism”, unlashing Palestinain fury in turn?

And even if the Palestinians did resist all provocation to attack again, the Israelis have proven that they are not above faking deadly terrorist attacks on their own people. With the Palestinians record of resistance, who would believe their denials? The irony is that while the Palestinians really do want peace, though with dignity and justice, the Israeli Zionists know that an end to conflict will represent an end to US financial support and an end to their chance for further expansion.

The wall indeed may therefore be nothing but another ploy to provoke more Palestinian fury and an inner line of defense for borders to make even more incursions into other peoples’ lands.