The Jerusalem Wall: An Overview

The security wall that is being built separating Israel and Palestine does not follow the pre-June 5, 1967, border, the so-called green line; instead, it winds its way deep into the West Bank.

So far 245 km (153 miles) of the Wall have been completed; once finished though, it will be 700 km-long (436 miles)

It is currently under construction in the districts of Qalqiliya, Tulkarem, Jenin, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron—altogether some 250 pieces of earth-moving equipment are at work.

Once up, the wall will have cost some US$ 4.7 million per kilometre.

Around Jerusalem, the Wall consists of an eight-metre (27 ft) high concrete barrier, twice the height of the Berlin wall.

Work here has been delayed by a decision of Israel's Supreme Court to reroute the Wall.

For Israel, the Wall was justified to stop infiltrations by terrorists; for Palestinians it flows from Israel's intention to build an 'apartheid wall' and make the creation of a Palestinian state difficult.

Last year the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the barrier was illegal because it was being built on occupied land.

The Jerusalem Wall surrounds the Holy City and a ring of Israeli settlements built around it, thus completing the isolation of the West Bank. Although 12 access points will allow movement in and out of the city, the construction of the Wall will have deprived Jerusalem of 90 per cent of its land.

Elsewhere, the Wall includes barbwire, security road, trenches and surveillance cameras.

• israel
• palestine
• jerusalem
• wall
• security
• barrier
• apartheid
• israeli
• supreme
• court
• international
• court
• of
• justice
• green
• line