Israel considers name change for West Bank barrier

JERUSALEM -- Israel is considering a name change for its massive complex of walls, fences and watch towers in the West Bank to improve its international image -- the "Terror Prevention Fence."

The new title for what is now called the "security fence" is part of an intensifying public relations battle as officials on both sides bring in high-powered legal and publicity advisers ahead of a Feb. 23 world court hearing on the wall's legality.

Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor who has defended O.J. Simpson and other high-profile clients, has offered to help the Israeli campaign, officials said.

More than the barrier is at stake. "In a way, the occupation is on trial," said Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher. "The process in The Hague will get to some very basic questions."

Israel says the barrier, which dips deep into the West Bank in some areas, is meant to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers and other attackers. Palestinians call it a land grab. The construction has sparked condemnation from some countries, with the visiting Irish foreign minister and 11 bishops from Europe and the Americas joining the growing group of critics Thursday.

"Terror Prevention Fence"

The name change was one idea tossed around at a meeting Wednesday evening between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and high-ranking government officials, though a final decision was not made, said Jonathan Peled, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The two sides have until the end of January to submit arguments to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Both parties are trying to keep their key arguments secret.

Both sides use names to evoke powerful images. The Palestinians have labeled the barrier the "Berlin Wall" or the "apartheid wall," noting the planned route would enclose thousands of Palestinians and some 45,000 Jewish settlers by driving 20 miles into the West Bank.

The largest segments of the barrier -- about a third of which has been finished -- are made up of razor wire, trenches and electronic sensors. Israel says about 8 miles of it is made up of 25-foot-tall concrete slabs, including some that seal off parts of Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Michael Tarazi, an American-born legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization, dismissed the proposed name change as a poor attempt to dress up hardships imposed on Palestinians by the wall. The barrier separates some Palestinians from schools, medical clinics, jobs and farms.

"Regardless of what you call it, the effect is still the same: to take the maximum amount of Palestinian land," he said.

Palestinians say the barrier is meant to leave them in fenced-in cantons and shatter hopes of forming an independent state. "The wall violates ... the human rights of the Palestinian people, it kills the idea of a viable Palestinian state," said Muin Shreim, an official with the Palestinian mission at the United Nations.

Both sides have put up Internet sites on the project.

Four ministerial committees are preparing Israel's defense, each one tackling a different point of argument: security, politics, law and public relations.

Peled didn't know how much the effort would cost, but the Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported the government would spend $1 million in legal fees and was hiring three of the world's top public relations firms.

Before the hearings in The Hague, Israel will get a dress rehearsal of sorts.

The Supreme Court said Thursday that a three-judge panel would hear a petition from an Israeli civil rights group challenging the legality of barrier sections built on West Bank land.

Some Israeli officials are already using the new name for the project. At a news conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday, a senior military official made a point of repeating several times: "This fence to my understanding is not a security fence, but an anti-terror fence."

During more than three years of fighting, suicide bombers alone have killed 444 people in attacks on Israelis. In all, 2,619 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 909 on the Israeli side.

The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the main idea behind the barrier is to prevent terrorism in hopes of creating an atmosphere in which peace talks can be relaunched.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday said Israel was upset by the involvement of the world court, which he said was hurting chances for restarting peace talks.

"We don't think that this issue should be discussed there," he said.

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On the Net:

-- Israeli Defense Ministry's site on the barrier: http://www.seamzone.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/

-- PLO Negotiations Affairs Department: http://www.nad-plo.orgß/