The Israeli government has officially approved on Sunday at night the construction of a Wall along its border with Egypt. The approval came after the Israeli Interior Security Minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, recently filed a draft calling for the construction of the Wall.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, held a meeting with senior military and security officials and decided to start the construction of the Wall with an estimated budget of 1.5 Billion USD.
Meanwhile, a senior Egyptian security official, operating in northern Sinai, said that this is an internal Israeli issue that has nothing to do with Egypt.
Israeli paper, Maariv, reported Monday that the new project, likely to be implemented soon, will include several sections containing concrete walls in some areas and iron walls in other border areas. It will also include barbed wires and electric fences.
Maariv added that the Egyptian official said that Israel did not officially inform Egypt on its plan, and added that the Egyptian government would declare its stance in the coming days. He reiterated his stance that this is merely an Israeli decision.
Israeli sources stated that the new plan is meant to prevent the smuggling operations along its border with Egypt. This includes the trafficking of drugs, weapons and even human beings.
It is also meant to prevent African immigrants from illegally entering Israel especially since, according to Israel, the number of attempted infiltration by African immigrants witnessed a sharp increase in recent years.
It is worth mentioning that Egypt, under Israeli and American pressure and support, started the construction of an Iron Wall along its border with the Gaza Strip.
The Wall also goes deep underground to prevent smuggling activities through the tunnel across Gaza-Egypt border.
