Israeli wall a trap - UN agency

Occupied Jerusalem: A wall Israel is building in the West Bank will effectively separate Arab East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied territory, a report issued yesterday by a United Nations agency said.

Israel's defence ministry, in charge of the project, had no immediate comment on the report. Israeli officials have said the wall helps stop Palestinian suicide bombers from reaching Israeli cities.

The report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israel has completed more than half of a planned 720km wall started in 2003 on land it captured in a 1967 war.

In 2004, the World Court said construction of the wall on occupied land was illegal. Israel has ignored the ruling, the report said.

The planned completion of a wall around a colony in the occupied Jerusalem area "will separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, restricting access to workplaces, health, education and to places of worship", the report added.

Another wall under construction around a colony bloc near the West Bank town of Bethlehem will isolate a Palestinian cultural area there and "sever Bethlehem from Jerusalem", the nine-page document said.

Commenting on other sections of the Israeli wall, the UN report said it would effectively trap some 50,000 of the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank in a zone between the territory and Israel.

These Palestinians would be unable to access critical services such as schools, clinics and shops in either Israel or the West Bank without special permits, the report said.

About 80 per cent of wall is to be built on West Bank land, while the remaining 20 per cent will lie in Israel, according to the report.