Report: Palestinians displaced by Israeli wall up 58% since June

Date: 24 / 10 / 2008  Time:  11:44
Jerusalem – Ma’an –

The illegal Israeli Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank is displacing Palestinians from their homes at alarmingly increasing rates, according to a report issued Thursday.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) conducted a survey on the impact of the Israeli separation wall, finding that the percentage of displaced households had increased by 58% since June, while closures have doubled.

By the end of June 2008, nine Palestinian governorates (mini provinces) where affected directly by the wall: Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarem, Salfit, Qalqilia, in the north of the West Bank; Jerusalem, Ramallah and Al-Bireh in the mid-region; with Bethlehem and Hebron in the south.

Fieldwork took place between June and July 2008 and covered 171 localities. 171 localities were affected during the summer months of 2008, compared with 149 localities by the end of May 2005.

The main findings indicated that 14 localities are located behind the wall: 13 localities in the northern West Bank (five in Jenin, seven in Qalqilia, and one in Tulkarem), as well as one in Bethlehem.

The results showed that 49,291 dunums of land have been confiscated since the construction began and through June 2008. Most of the confiscated land was in the northern West Bank (22,141 dunums), according to the report.

In the mid-region, 13,875 dunums were confiscated, while a similar 13,275 dunums were seized in the south.

Anti-wall group holds meeting with PLO in Ramallah

Date: 23 / 10 / 2008  Time:  21:19
Ramallah – Ma’an –

A Palestinian national committee that records destruction caused by the illegal Israeli Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank met with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Thursday in Ramallah, a representative said.

The National Committee met with PLO leaders at its headquarters in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, where officials discussed the wall's effect on the region.

The committee insisted that the United Nations (UN)'s efforts to record the harm caused by the wall needed to "exert more influence."

"It should open an office in Palestine, as well as train staff" to help those harmed by the wall's construction," the organization said in a statement.

It also called for implementing the UN General Assembly decision to cease construction of the barrier, issued in December 2006.

The national committee was founded by presidential decree, with the help of the PLO. Its members belong to several Palestinian factions, including the office of the Palestinian president and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations and activists of popular committees in Palestine