Palestinians remove Separation Wall gate

Youths today demolished the iron gate built in to the illegal Separation Wall in the village of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem.

The spokesman of the Fatah movement in the Shuafat refugee camp told AFP that a number of youths today demolished an iron gate with demolition tools, pointing out that the gate is located in the middle of the Separation Wall in the village of Anata. The gate separates the village from the illegal settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev.

He added that occupation forces stormed the village and clashes broke out. The forces used sound and gas bombs and rubber coated bullets. Dozens of people suffered from smoke inhalation and one of the youths was hit by a rubber coated bullet.

Built in 2002, the Separation Wall sits at eight metres tall in places, more than twice the height of the Berlin Wall. Snaking through the occupied West Bank, the Wall cuts off villages and people from their own land, and often splits communities in two. In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) called for the Wall to be dismantled and labelled it illegal due to the overwhelming economic and social problems it caused for Palestinians. Today the Wall still stands.

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