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Some Israelis who live on the Palestinian side of the fence also
worry their homes could be left out of Israel if the fence turns
into a national border. Israeli authorities have promised to re-route
the fence in order to ensure Israeli homes stay on the Israeli
side.
Mideast analysts, such as New York Times writer Tom Friedman,
point out that the fence could backfire on Israel. If the wall
 eats
away at Palestinian land and destroys the Palestinian dream of
an independent state, Friedman maintains, Israel could become
a combined state of Jews and Palestinians, where Palestinians
could demand voting rights.
He argues that since by the year 2010, there will be more Palestinian
Arabs than Jews living in such a combined land mass, the principle
of one man, one vote, could lead to more Palestinians voting in
Israel, putting Israel in danger of losing its identity as a Jewish
homeland.
"If Palestinians lose their dream to have an independent
state, then the only thing that might guarantee for them a dignified
life will be asking for the right to live in one state with the
Israelis," Israeli Supreme Court clerk Mohammed Dahleh told
Friedman.
"We will say, 'Don't evacuate even a single West Bank settlement.
Just give us the vote and let us be part of one community,'"
since Israel has made it into one space anyway,  Dahleh
said. "This call will find great resonance within the international
community."
President Bush also sees the fence as jeopardizing the peace
process.
"I think the wall is a problem," he said in July during
a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "It is
very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians
and the Israelis ... with a wall snaking through the West Bank."
The United States will soon decide whether the fence construction
is an illegal settlement activity and therefore warrants a fine.
--
Kristina Nwazota, Online NewsHour
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President
Bush said last week that part of a $9 billion aid package, slated
to help with Israel's current recession, could be deducted as
punishment for the wall's construction. 
their
land -- and would not only divide communities, but take disputed
land and place it in Israeli hands. The physical barrier, they
say, could become a political and geographical division making
impossible the independent Palestinian state Palestinians and
U.S. officials hope to create by 2005. 
American schools and financial aid should be only for legal citizens of the United States. There should be no exceptions to this.
