This was written to Senators Boxer and Feinstein on October 1, 2004, about S.Res. 408, which was coming to the Senate floor that day.  [10-4-04]

Bad Fences Make Bad Neighbors

"Good fences make good neighbors." This adage has resonated not only with Robert Frost's neighbor, but with many other Americans. Of course one can take this to mean that once one has walled off one's neighbor, one doesn't have to deal with him, or that when two neighbors clarify their boundaries they can live contentedly side by side. In either case, good fences make good neighbors only when both neighbors agree on the property line boundary. If while building his fence, a man were to veer away from the property line to incorporate his neighbor's swimming pool, his neighbor would not view it as a good fence. Indeed, the neighbor might be particularly incensed if the man were to uproot some of his fruit trees that blocked the route of the fence to the swimming pool. The neighbor, barred from his own swimming pool by a fence not of his own choosing, would probably take the man to court.

A non-binding resolution that has come before the Senate, S.Res. 408, states uncritical support of Israel's right to build its fence. Unfortunately, Israel is not being a good neighbor in building its fence, because it is being built around the West Bank's swimming pool. Now, Israel has as much right to build a fence on its internationally recognized boundaries as the U.S. has to build one on our border with Canada or Mexico. Even so, the U.S. should not be surprised by an international incident if we were to try to incorporate Ottawa or Tijuana on our side of such a fence. Yet some of our senators do not seem to object to the Israeli fence cutting into the West Bank to incorporate Palestinian family farms, orchards, and village wells (water is such a precious commodity on the West Bank, that few Palestinians actually have swimming pools; the majority of swimming pools there are in the Israeli settlements that also are being incorporated into the Israeli side of the fence).

If our Senators had any objections, there would be some mention of the route of the fence in S. Res. 408; but, other than a vague reference to "Palestinian humanitarian concerns," there is none. No mention about the internationally recognized boundary whether as "the Green Line," "the 1967 Boundary," or "the 1949 Armistice Lines."

Palestinians have been so frustrated by the loss of their land and water (not to mention the ancient olive groves uprooted for the building of this "temporary" fence) that they took the matter to court, the International High Court of Justice. Even the Israeli High Court of Justice recognizes the validity of the International Court's ruling on the fence: the Israeli Court has ruled that any further building must be near the Green Line.

Robert Frost disagrees with his neighbor about their fence, saying "something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down." I hope for a day when there is enough mutual trust between Israelis and Palestinians that no one feels a need for a protective fence between the pine forest and the fruit trees. Until that day, the man who wants to build a fence should keep it off of his neighbor's property.


Kathleen Eschen-Pipes