December 08, 2003, 2:25 p.m.
About that Wall...
Iraqi and Israeli security interests.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that "as the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire."

The Times informed us further: "The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories."

One Iraqi reportedly told the Times: "I see no difference between us and the Palestinians... We didn't expect anything like this after Saddam fell."

Yet as the United States builds barriers between our troops and these villages for the purpose of reducing American casualties, the Bush administration is denouncing Israel's construction of a wall to protect its citizens from Palestinian terrorists.

In his recent speech in London, President Bush said: "Israel should freeze settlement construction, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and not prejudice final negotiations with the placements of walls and fences."

By combining all these issues as one, the president is intentionally overlooking the legitimate purpose for which Israel is constructing the wall — to protect its citizens from Palestinian terrorism. In the last three years alone, there have been over 6,700 Israeli casualties, including nearly 900 deaths. This far exceeds the casualty levels of the U.S. military thus far in Iraq.

The wall is about Israel's self-defense, and nothing more. The wall can be moved if future agreements require it. The problem has never been Israel's unwillingness to exchange land for Palestinian promises of peace: It has always been the Palestinians' unwillingness to keep their promises. This is just one more example of a double standard that devalues Israeli security and the lives of Israeli citizens.

— Mark Levin is host of a nightly radio show on WABC 770.