Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
Construction began: 2002
Total length: 712 kilometers
Length completed: 413 km (as of April 2007); 62 km are under construction; 237 km are planned, but not yet constructed.
Estimated Cost: 13-15 billion NIS (3.1-3.6 billion USD)
Key legal rulings regarding the barrier: In the 2004 case of Beit Sourik Village Council v. Government of Israel, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the route of the barrier created by the Israeli military did harm to the Palestinian population disproportionate to the security needs of the state and ordered it altered. This doctrine of proportionality also guided the 2005 case Ma’arabe v. Prime Minister of Israel, which declared that the security barrier was legal (countering a 2004 ICJ ruling), but that its route could not unreasonably impinge on the rights of Palestinians. Most recently, the doctrine was applied to the case of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, leading to a court order to re-route the barrier.
Materials used: Barbed wire, electronic detection systems, anti-vehicle trenches, dirt and sand strips for tracking footprints and vehicles. 20 miles of the barrier are made up of concrete walls, mostly in urban areas where they take up less space and protect against snipers.
20% = Portion of barrier that follows the Green Line (as of April 2007)
16% = Percentage of West Bank contained on Israeli side of barrier in 2003 trajectory
8.5% = Percentage of West Bank contained on Israeli side of barrier in current trajectory
110,000 = Number of Palestinians living between Green Line and barrier (out of 2.4 million total in West Bank)
171, 000 = Number of Israelis living between Green Line and barrier (out of 407,000 total in West Bank)
