Israeli fence construction cuts off migration from Egypt | World news | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/31/israeli-fence-cuts-migration-egypt?CMP=twt_fd
The fence along Israel’s southern border is estimated to have cost around 1.4bn shekels (£240m). Israel now has physical barriers along all its land borders apart from one section abutting Jordan, from Eilat to the Dead Sea. Plans to erect a fence along that border are under discussion. (...)
The purpose of the fence is to deter illegal immigration, cross-border militant activity and the smuggling of drugs and weapons. More than 65,000 migrants‚ mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, have entered Israel illegally from Egypt since 2006, according to government figures.
A US state department report on human rights noted that Israel approved one out of 4,603 applications for asylum in 2011.
