Palestinian Blows Himself Up Near Site of West Bank Fence
Jewish settlers and Palestinians both object to the plan to build the 225-mile fence of ditches, barricades, walls, sensors, patrol roads and other obstacles running roughly along the old Green Line marking Israel's pre-1967 border from the land it conquered from Jordan in 1967.

Even as the Israeli right began mounting demonstrations outside the prime minister's office against the fence today, the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat was denouncing it as "a sinful assault on our land."

"An act of racism," Mr. Arafat said. "A fascist apartheid measure being done and we do not accept it. We will continue rejecting it by all means."

Under pressure from his base on the right, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tonight scheduled a debate on the fence for the full cabinet meeting on Sunday. He had said it would be discussed at an inner cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but several factional parties, representing settlers and Russian immigrants, among others, are threatening to bolt his coalition.

The settlers are opposed to the fence because they fear it could become a de facto border along the pre-1967 line in a settlement with the Palestinians, and they could be isolated or evacuated.

The Palestinians object because the path of construction veers in places east of the line in order to protect settlements or, because of geography, takes land they consider theirs. It would also block the estimated 25,000 Palestinians that Israeli security officials say manage to sneak into Israel to find work each day, further crippling the Palestinian economy, already devastated by 21 months of conflict and internal road closures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/17/international/middleeast/17CND-MIDE.html