[The] fence [was] as necessary as oxygen for the security of all of Israel. [However], its route should have run along the Green Line without diversions. Had that been done, it could have been constructed quickly, without legal holdups and without political damage. A security fence, and not a border line. That is what anybody with eyes in his head said and wrote before The Hague decision. But, those who decided the fence's route, from the prime minister down, preferred to be smart-alecks. Instead of concentrating on security they played politics.

Let’s face the facts. We turned the fence, which is so necessary, from a security fence to a political fence, and that’s why we were roundly defeated. The argument in The Hague was not about the security needs o f Israel, but about Israel’s right to establish political Jewish settlements deep inside Judea and Samaria.