ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how Israelis from the right and from the left political spectrum contest the barriers' function, and account for its construction and purpose. The West Bank Barrier, which has been under construction since 2002 by the Israeli government and separates Israel from Palestinian territories, is one of the more controversial such projects. The West Bank barrier is not only part of an extensive system of exclusionary policies and physical infrastructures, but it is also symptomatic of a long-standing 'culture of conflict'. Indeed, the barrier has become the very site of its institutionalization and material manifestation. The chapter talks about the proliferation of border technologies which is the assumption that they can inhibit immigration and illegal activities, create security, curb terrorism, and minimize ethnic violence. The post-1989 hopes for freedom and mobility have therefore gone hand in hand with a 'new age' of walls.
