The planned route of the West Bank security barrier in Gush Etzion is no longer relevant, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday during a tour of the area.
"The barrier was planned under security circumstances that no longer exist, and there is no need to revive it," he said."Construction of the fence along the planned route may create an additional political front, and may cause frustrations among Jewish and Arab residents who developed here a model of coexistence," Rivlin stated. "We need to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, while living together... we are in one country and should continue to develop a way to live with each other and not separate from each other."
Rivlin called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reconsider implementing the plans: "The fence was not built when there was a need to build it in 2003, and we must now re-consider whether it is necessary to build it."
