New bill in Israel’s Knesset seeks to designate completion of security wall protecting Judea & Samaria as a “high-priority national project,” to be finished within 18 month saying, ‘Incomplete fence main cause of terrorist infiltrations.’

By Gideon Allon

A new bill introduced Thursday strives to facilitate completing the construction of the security fence in Judea and Samaria by 2018. The legislation proposal was presented by Zionist Union MK Omer Bar Lev, with the backing of 20 Zionist Union lawmakers.

A section of the Judea and Samaria security wall [Archive] – Photo: Reuters

Bar Lev explained that over the past few years, and especially during the current wave of terrorism, Palestinian terrorists have been able to infiltrate Israel through the incomplete sections in the security fence.

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There are currently four incomplete sections in the fence: one near the Jerusalem suburb of Maaleh Adumim, one in the Gush Etzion area, and two in the Mount Hebron sector

While the government has several plans in progress to complete the security fence, the new bill seeks to designate its construction a “high-priority national project” that must be completed within 18 months.

Being a security-oriented project, the designation will give the Defense Ministry jurisdiction over the bill’s implementation, including the authority to enact auxiliary bylaws and regulations with aim of completing the fence.

The bill’s abstract explains the construction deadline included in the legislation proposal seeks to facilitate creating a “consecutive line separating Jewish and Arab communities in Judea and Samaria” to bolster security.

The expedited construction budget is slated to be included in the 2017-2018 state budget, allowing construction to commence as soon as the Knesset adopts the bill, which Bar Lev said he hopes happens as soon as the Knesset reconvenes for the winter session, in October.

View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=35297