UN, EU dislike barrier; Israel approves $20m for settlements

By: Ahmad Hammadi

BRUSSELS/ TEL AVIV: The United Nations and European Union have labeled Israel's barrier on the West Bank inhumane and a “major obstacle” to peace.

A report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) found that more than 200,000 Palestinians are already suffering the humanitarian consequences of the barrier.

The barrier which legality is being debated by the world court in the Hague next week is expected to eventually stretch more than 700 kilometers (430 miles) by the time it is completed at the end of next year.

The 180-kilometer (113-mile) segment completed so far -- a montage of razor wire, electronic fencing, concrete and ditches -- has cut off villages from markets, medical services and schools in the northern West Bank.

It has resulted in the confiscation of 11,4000 dunums (2,850 acres - 1,140 hectares) of privately-owned Palestinian land and in the destruction of 102,320 trees, the UN said.

This land, which employs one quarter of the population there, is some of the West Bank's most fertile, and yields around 900,000 dollars per square kilometer, more than double the amount from other areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The barrier has also limited access to water in an area which wells are some of the best of the western Aquifer. OCHA estimates that some 40,000 acres (16,200 hectares) of “high-income Palestinian land” will be affected by the wall in the northern West Bank alone.

The EU said the barrier contravenes international law as it intrudes onto occupied territory. But recourse to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will only complicate matters, the bloc believes.

Meanwhile, Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said Tuesday it would have been better if the country had decided to attend next week's World Court hearings on its West Bank barrier instead of staying away.

In another development, an Israeli parliamentary committee has approved more than $20 million in new funding for Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent calls to evacuate parts of these areas.

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