Israeli wall in West Bank to take more Palestinian land south of Hebron

July 19, 2006

Hebron- Ma'an- Co-ordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Construction of the Separation Wall in the Arab area of Ar Ramadin in southern Hebron, Ghalib Az Zagharnah, has said that Israeli land surveyors, under the protection of Israeli border guards and Israeli forces and accompanied by officials of the Israeli civil administration, have identified and marked the route of the wall northwest of Ar Ramadin.

In a press statement, he said that the new section of the wall, according to the route-markers on the ground, shows that large areas of Palestinian land will end up on the Israeli side of the wall. He estimated that approximately 3500 dunums of Palestinian land will be annexed to the Israeli settelement of Ashkelon, that was itself originally built on the Arab villages of Ar Ramadin, Adh Dhahriyeh and Doura.

He said that there are fields of trees on some of the land that would be taken away by the Israelis once the wall is completed as well as about 20 old and new water wells.

The Israeli government is building a wall which illegally snakes through Palestinian land inside the Green Line in many parts of the West Bank.