More profoundly, they fear that the fence, by its massive presence and permanence, will inexorably dig itself into the national consciousness as the new-old border between Israel and Palestine the border that they have laboured for decades to erase from the public mind.

ECONOMIST: Israel and the Palestinians

Among the settlers and their political hinterland, the fear is that the fence, by its massive presence and permanence, will dig itself into the national consciousness as the new-old border between Israel and Palestine the border that they have laboured for decades to erase from the public mind.

ECONOMIST: Peace postponed again | The

SDLP, has long argued that a cross-border majority in favour of a new settlement would convincingly erase the alleged mandate for violence.

ECONOMIST: Northern Ireland

So do classical economists and, in principle, communists. (In practice, though, Stalin did not erase the lines on his maps, playing with them instead like a spiteful child.) Today the border is under attack from more prosaic people: businessmen and bureaucrats.

ECONOMIST: Good fences