Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has reported the completion of its security
barrier along the border with Egypt.

Officials said the Israeli Defense Ministry oversaw the construction of
230 kilometers of an electronic fence and barrier along the Egyptian border.
They said the project took two years and cost nearly $500 million in an
attempt to block insurgents and African migrants.

“The last 12-kilometer section of the fence in the mountainous Eilat
area is due to be completed in about three months,” the Defense Ministry said.

On Jan. 2, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a ceremony that marked the completion of the Egyptian border fence. Netanyahu said the fence, completed in half the time alloted, reduced the infiltration of migrants from Egypt to almost nil.

“For seven months, not one infiltrator has reached Israel’s cities,”
Netanyahu said. “Just as we have stopped infiltration into Israel’s cities, so too will we succeed in the next mission — repatriating the tens of
thousands of infiltrators in Israel to their countries of origin.”

The Defense Ministry said more than 100 contractors were hired for the
project. They said more than 1,000 employees and 600 squads worked seven
days a week and often during the night on the five-meter fence, which in
some areas reached seven meters.

Officials said the barrier also included a multi-layered barbed wire
fence, dirt road and asphalt track. They said cameras and radars were being
installed and connected to command and control stations.

“The fence itself serves as an almost hermetic barrier to unauthorized
entry,” the Defense Ministry said. “It has sparked much interest from other
countries facing similar challenges of illegal infiltration, smuggling and
terrorism.”

  230-kilometer security fence, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel completes ‘almost hermetic’ Egyptian border fence