Ariel Sharon opposed the construction of the security fence for a long time. Although he understood its security goal, a goal which proved itself with the dramatic drop in terror, he also knew that the fence would lead to the creation of a new political reality. The settlers also understood that the fence’s construction would leave those remaining east of it “outside the fence.”

Those settlers were sent by all of Israel‘s governments – both right-wing and left-wing – as pioneers, based on the perception of Zionist settlement meaning security. The border, according to that perception, was supposed to pass in a place where people build a community, work its land and know how to fight for self-defence.

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