Build It and They Won't Come

Israel is enjoying some success in its own War on Terror:

Attacks against Israelis were down 30 percent in 2003 (3838 attacks) versus 2002 (5301 attacks). More importantly, at least for Israelis, only half as many Israelis were killed by terrorists in 2003 (213) compared to 2002 (451 dead).

Here’s why:

The security wall, between Israel and Palestinian areas in the West Bank, is only a third finished, but has already demonstrated it ability to cause a decline in attacks. For the areas now protected by the wall, there were 17 successful attacks, killing 89, from April 2002 to December 2002, which was before the wall was built. But once the wall went up, there were eight attacks resulting in 51 deaths (between January and November 2003.)

It ain’t perfect, but it is progress.