Good Walls Make Good Neighbors: Israel Wants to be Completely Fenced In

The country’s security officials have recommended building a fence along the only Israeli border without one – the border with Jordan.

Israeli Defense officials have suggested that the country should be surrounded by fences along all of its borders, for security reasons. So far, the only one that remains without a barrier is that with Jordan.

The security officials want the fence to prevent any possible penetration from jihadi infiltrators and protect the new Timna airport, which is due to be completed next year. It will replace Eilat Airport and also handle flights if they are diverted away from Ben Gurion Airport.

"Security officials recommended the construction of a security barrier to protect the new airport which will be built at Timna," some 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, the local media quotes an army spokeswoman as saying.

It however remains unclear whether the next government would approve the suggested construction.

Israel has a fence along its southern border with Egypt, also near Eilat, that was erected in 2013 to keep out illegal African immigrants.

The country also has a border fence with the Gaza Strip and barriers along its frontiers with Syria and Lebanon.

The huge steel fence that runs along the Syrian frontier through the Golan Heights was built after the Syrian civil war broke out, for fear of a spillover of fighting and an influx of refugees.

Israel also has a vast separation wall that runs through the West Bank, which it began building during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, which lasted from 2000-2005. Israel claims that it protects civilians from possible suicide bombing attacks.