U.S. identifies parts of Israeli fence as problems

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday Washington had identified planned parts of the fence Israel is building in the West Bank that may cause problems and will raise the issue with the Israeli government.

Israel is constructing what it calls a security fence -- in parts metal fencing and in others a concrete wall -- to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers. Palestinians describe it as a new "Berlin Wall" that grabs territory they want to be part of an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Powell told reporters the United States understood Israel's desire to build the fence to protect its security but said that when it crossed the so-called "green line" separating Israel from the West Bank it posed a problem.

"All of us put fences up when we feel a need for a fence on our property," he said. "We try to do it in a way that does not prejudice anyone else's property or anyone else's rights.

"It's when the fence begins to intrude on land that is not on the Israeli side of the green line, or starts to intrude in a way that makes it more difficult for us to make the case for a viable Palestinian state, or starts to cut off certain towns and villages or ... interfere with ... activity in Palestinian towns and villages, then is it appropriate for us to say to our Israeli friends, 'Look, we have a problem here,'" he added.

"And that's what we're doing. We have identified some problems with the subsequent stages of the fence, what's going on, and we're going to be discussing those problems with them," Powell said.

The State Department fears that the barrier could make Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations more difficult.

On Tuesday, U.S. officials said they were weighing whether to reduce U.S. loan guarantees to Israel because of the fence due to a U.S. law requiring that none of the money be spent to help Israeli settlements in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.

They said the law requires the loan guarantees be reduced dollar-for-dollar for money spent in this way.