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Israel builds new stretch of barrier along southern West Bank
[IsraelTimes] Defense ministry says another 42-kilometer section of security barrier completedThe Israeli defense ministry said Wednesday it has completed a further 42-kilometer (26-mile) stretch of its contentious West Bank security barrier. "The defense ministry this morning installed the final concrete walls, completing a 42-kilometer wall between Tarkumia and Meitar," it said in a statement, referring to the Paleostinian village of Tarkumia, northwest of Hebron, and an Israeli crossing adjacent to the settlement of Meitar, further south. It did not say how much of the planned 712-kilometer network of towering concrete walls, barbed-wire fences, trenches and closed military roads was now complete. A ministry spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for the information. Based on UN figures published before Wednesday’s announcement, about 214 kilometers remains to be built. Israel says the barrier, which it began building after a wave of Paleostinian terror attacks in 2002, is crucial for its security, while Paleostinians see it as a land grab of territory they want for a future state. Much of the barrier cuts into the West Bank. In a non-binding decision, the International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that construction of the barrier was illegal and, like the UN General Assembly, demanded it be dismantled. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last March ordered that a gap in the barrier in the Tarkumia area be closed as a priority after a spike of Paleostinian attacks inside Israel. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-08-03 |
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