Israel steal more Arab land for separation wall
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/1/2006

Israel on Sunday decided to effectively confiscate tens of thousands of acres of private Palestinian land in the central West Bank and around Jerusalem for the purpose of building a part-fence-part-wall barrier around Jewish-only settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands.

According to the Israeli public radio, the regime approved recommendations by the hawkish defense minister Shaul Mofaz which would effectively annex large parts of the central West Bank in the Salfit region.

The decision means that Israel will expropriate a panhandle that goes deep into the central West Bank, including the colony of Ariel and Alfe Menache.

This means that the gigantic apartheid wall will go deep into the West Bank, cutting off numerous Palestinian population from each other.

Moreover, the new plan would result in a huge land grab, thus increasing poverty among Palestinians, already decimated by harsh American-led and Israeli-enforced sanctions.

In the Jerusalem region, the wall would also carve large areas, and hermetically seal any gap through which Palestinians from the West Bank could access Islamic and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem.

The gigantic barrier, dubbed as 'separation wall' by the Israeli media, is expected to result in the expropriation of over 40-50 percent of the West Bank, reducing Palestinian towns and villages to virtual detention camps.

The US and EU initially objected to the route of the wall, however, governments in the US and Europe eventually succumbed to Israeli pressure and adopted a policy of virtual silence toward the wall.

The International Court of Justice at the Hague two years ago ruled that the wall was illegal and ought to be dismantled.

However, Israel, supported by the US, rejected the verdict, saying the court had no authority to look into the case.

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