Apartheid wall encircles Jerusalem; 120 Palestinians expelled

Israelis encourage illegal Jewish settlers to move in when Palestinians are evicted and forced out of Jerusalem.

MEMO - The Israeli occupation authorities have completed the apartheid wall around Jerusalem, cutting it off from its West Bank hinterland. The final 130km section brings the total length of the illegal wall to 784 km.

The city is now ringed by electrified wire and cement blocks to a height of 5-6m on three sides, while the fourth is plagued with illegal settlements, which are in the process of being connected to others outside the city by a light railway system.

According to the head of the General Committee for the Defence of Palestinian Land, the Israelis have confiscated the remaining areas of West Jerusalem and erased all barriers between the western and eastern sectors of the city. "They have also confiscated land in the Jordan Valley, including Maale Adumim settlement, and reached the Dead Sea,” said Abdul-Hadi Hantash. “To the south, Jerusalem is blocked by a settlement belt."

The idea, said Hantash, is to separate Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank to create "facts on the ground, which poses huge questions about the future of Palestinians living inside the Israeli barriers, inside the city, as well as the future of their land." Around 120,000 Palestinians have been displaced from the city of their birth by the Israelis as a result of these measures, he added. The Israelis encourage illegal Jewish settlers to move in when Palestinians are evicted and forced out of Jerusalem.

Hantash called for Islamic and Arab counter-measures to save the city of Jerusalem from the hands of the Israelis and their brutal occupation, and give support to the Palestinians as they struggle to hold on to their land.