Only 35% of security fence completed

Maj.-Gen. Kaplinski: 484 kilometers remain at NIS 10m. per kilometer.

By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL, JPOST STAFF
fence with flag 298 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
fence with flag 298
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
Only 35 percent of the security fence in Judea and Samaria has been constructed, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Wednesday. While the 275 kilometers that have been completed have been shown to be effective in preventing terrorist infiltration, a remaining 484 kilometers remain to be built, said Kaplinsky, adding that each kilometer of the fence will cost the government NIS 10 million, bringing the total cost to NIS 9.5 billion. Netzah Mashiach, the Defense Ministry's project manager of the Seam Line Authority, also said on Wednesday at the committee hearing that construction of the security fence would be completed by the end of 2006, a year later than the forecasted completion date. Mashiach said that the total cost of construction was more than NIS 11 billion, of which NIS 2.5 billion were allocated to easing the lives of Palestinians who were affected by the fence by building extra roads, passageways, and tunnels. Kaplinski had cited Palestinian petitions to the Supreme Court as the largest cause of delays. Furthermore, Kaplinski, announced at the committee hearing that the IDF would also construct a new fence along the Egyptian border at the cost of NIS 1.5 billion.
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