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Israel’s Defense Ministry wants a fence erected along Israel’s border with Egypt.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday he was pushing for the government to approve and fund the construction of a fence between the Negev Desert and the Egyptian Sinai to keep out arms smugglers and terrorists.

Israeli concerns about infiltration from the Sinai, where currently the border is little more than a line in the sand in a punishing part of the desert that is difficult to cross on foot, have peaked over the recent influx of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Egypt.

The cost of an Israel-Egypt border fence is projected to be between $100 million and $200 million.

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