New Stage of Separation Barrier: This Stage will Trap 102,000 Palestinians in Enclaves
On 1 October 2003, the Israeli government approved the new route proposed by the defense establishment for continuation of the separation barrier. In the same decision, the cabinet authorized the prime minister and the defense minister to approve changes in the route at a later date. The text of the decision was announced immediately, but the map of the route was not made available to the public and it took almost a month until it was published..
B'Tselem Map of the Separation Barrier (http://www.btselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier/Map.asp)
Approximately 200 kilometers were previously approved by the government, and the majority has already been constructed. The new sections approved by the government cover 270 kilometers, as follows:
* 140 kilometers from the settlement Elqana, south of Qalqiliya, to Ofer Camp, near Ramallah (Stage 3)
* 115 kilometers from the Har Gilo settlement, south of Jerusalem, to the Carmel settlement, south of Hebron (Stage 4)
* 15 kilometers along the northeastern border of the Jerusalem Municipality (in the eastern section of the Jerusalem Envelope)
Route of the Separation Barrier in the Bethlehem area
Most of the route that was approved and constructed prior to this decision ran within the West Bank. The same is true of the new sections, which in some cases will run even deeper in the West Bank. For example, around the Ariel settlement – the route extends some 22 kilometers east of the Green Line (the Israeli border).
The approved route of the new sections will result in 44 settlements being situated west of the barrier. More than 650,000 dunams (4 dunams = 1 acre), comprising 11.6 percent of the West Bank, will lie between the barrier and the Green Line. Added to this, are the 12 settlements established in East Jerusalem, which comprise 70,000 dunams (1.3 percent of the West Bank).
Setting the route within the West Bank will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians:
* 42 villages, containing 102,000 residents, will become enclaves west of the barrier, cut off from the rest of the West Bank. The map approved by the government indicates that these villages will be enclosed by means of secondary barriers, within six detached, internal enclaves.
* The barrier will separate the 200,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
* 71 other Palestinian communities, with 367,000 residents, lie near the eastern side of the new sections, and some of these residents will be separated from their farmland on the western side of the barrier. Some of these communities lie east of the route, but will be surrounded by the barrier on three sides, and thus they too, will become isolated enclaves.
Experience in the areas where the separation barrier has already been built shows that construction of the barrier within the West Bank causes widescale infringement of the human rights of Palestinians living nearby.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will have severe difficulty reaching their workplaces, educational institutions, and medical treatment.