Fence completion seen in 2010

Israel may be three years away from completing its West Bank security fence.Citing Defense Ministry sources, The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday that the 500-mile fence, which began rising in 2002, may only be finished in 2010. Successive Israeli governments have spoken of the fence being completed within far shorter time-frames.According to the newspaper, the delay is mostly due to High Court petitions against the fence route lodged by Palestinian land owners, which sometimes mean sections of the project have to be scrapped and redrafted.About 60 percent of the fence, which Palestinians see as a de facto border that takes in significant amounts of West Bank land, has been erected.