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Palestinian farmland taken for Israeli wall
JERUSALEM. Israel has expropriated thousands of acres of Palestinian farmland deep in the West Bank for the most controversial segment of its separation barrier, Palestinian officials said Monday. The latest land seizures are for a barrier segment near the Israeli settlement of Ariel, in the heart of the West Bank.
A stake through the heart, eh?
Palestinians charge that the barrier project is meant to swallow up large parts of the West Bank, pointing to the Ariel sector as a prime example. If Israel builds the barrier to include Ariel on the Israeli side, it would mean cutting a wedge halfway through the northern part of the territory, because Ariel is in the middle. With 18,000 residents, Ariel is the second-largest West Bank settlement. Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, has 26,000.

The United States is opposed to adding Ariel to Israeli territory by means of the barrier, and Israel has so far avoided making a clear decision. Asaf Shariv, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, said that for now, only an east-west section of the barrier is being built, leaving the option of encircling Ariel separately, a concept the Americans apparently do not oppose.
Encircling them sounds like an idea.
The Ariel barrier project is already causing hardships for Palestinians. Residents of the nearby Palestinian village of Azawiya were informed that 18,000 dunams (4,500 acres) of land are being expropriated for a 3.5-kilometer (2-mile) stretch of barrier, said Annan Elashkar, a Palestinian liaison officer with Israel.

Despite the tension, the military began easing restrictions in the West Bank, starting to remove about 40 ramparts and gates that blocked West Bank roads, a defense official said on condition of anonymity. The official said obstacles can be lifted in areas where the barrier has been completed. The military released a statement saying the removal is in keeping with its policy to "to make a clear distinction between the terrorists who hide among civilians and those not involved in terror."
Posted by: Steve White 2004-06-15
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=35537