Inch by inch, row by row

Haaretz for February 8 brings the news that

[t]he route of the separation fence will be shortened by moving it westward toward the Green Line and eliminating most of the loops planned around Palestinian villages, according to a senior source in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, told a group of Mideast experts last week that he believes the final fence route will be about 600 kilometers long, or 100 kilometers shorter than the one approved by the government.

The fence itself is still an ugly and unhappy thing - but every meter it moves toward the Green Line (the 1967 borders of Israel), inside of which Israel has every legal right to build it and outside of which it stands as an illegal barrier, is a move in the right direction.

So I think a half-cheer is in order. If it were to be moved inside the Green Line, I'd upgrade to a full cheer. Even in that case, the wall itself is a psychological barrier to peace as well as a physical barrier to movement, so that's as far as I could go - but Mr. Sharon, dismantle it and I'll go for the whole three cheers.