Israel takes a lot of flak over what many call the "apartheid wall" separating the Jewish state from the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories.

Setting aside the fact that the vast majority of the "wall" is really just a fence (albeit a technologically-advanced fence), this barrier was not just arbitrarily thrown up to separate two peoples.

The wall was built for a very specific reason: because Israelis were being mass-murdered by Palestinian terrorists who could too easily cross into Jewish-majority towns and cities.

Prior to the wave of terrorism known as the Second Intifada, there was no wall, and there were a lot fewer checkpoints. Israelis and Palestinians crossed into one another's cities, legally, on a daily basis.

So, is it really fair to call this "apartheid"?