Abstract
Israel has been building a separation wall between its territory and Palestine since 2002. A decision that goes against the current global movement for a borderless world. Whereas it has never been that easy to circulate from a country to another, some prefer to protect themselves against a foreign threat, following the example of the US-Mexican border or the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco.
Officially, the Israeli West Bank barrier aims at preventing terrorists to enter the country, including the suicide bombing attacks that increased significantly during the Second Intifada. This barrier doesn't have a specific form: a 723 kilometers-long concrete wall, 8 meters tall, or an electric fence that goes from the northern West Bank of Jordan to the South, following the 1948 official frontier the " Green Line ".
The barrier layout is complex and leads to singular situations for the East Bank: Palestinian villages are blocked in a no man's land, illegal colonies are integrated to the Israeli territory. More than a protective wall, the Israeli West Bank barrier appears as a symbol of a new civil and military redeployment of the Israeli policies.
"To think of this barrier as the main character of the Israeli-Palestinian separation is a dysfunctional analysis, because it would led to ignoring the Israeli presence on both sides of the wall. From a safety point of view, this barrier is a joke ! ", explains the French scholar Cedric Parizot. This is what we will try to discuss in this paper.
