...First, the approach taken by the present Israeli government has been far more effective than its foreign critics claim. I wrote a column last summer arguing that the dual strategy of building the security fence and attacking terrorist organisations directly was a prerequisite of a lasting peace, and was working. That still appears to be the case. One of my interlocutors, a senior official at the Foreign Ministry who had been a member of Israel's negotiating team at Oslo and who clearly identified with the Barak wing of Israeli politics rather than the Sharon wing, was adamant on this point. The fence has allowed Israelis a breathing space from the terrible carnage and demoralisation suffered by her civilians at the height of the Intifada. My interlocutor had himself known no fewer than six people killed in suicide attacks - civilians travelling by bus or eating in a restaurant.

(I should reiterate too that the fence really is a fence, made of chain-linked wire, and not a wall, as its critics maintain. There is a small section of it that is a wall, looking something like the type of barriers that you see at the verges of motorways in this country. The resemblance is not accidental, because that's exactly what that part of the security fence is: a barrier alongside a main road where sniper fire had been directed at motorists, and which a fence would be powerless to stop.)

In addition, these security measures have reinforced an overwhelming consensus in Israeli society for a strategy of defensive deterrence, withdrawal from strategically and politically indefensible settlements in Gaza, and direct negotiations for a Palestinian state...