WEST BANK: : Israeli forces scuffle with Palestinian villagers trying to prevent tractors from digging their land to erect a controversial West Bank barrier.

Scuffles erupted between Palestinian villagers and Israeli troops on Tuesday (February 27) as bulldozers uprooted land to construct the controversial West Bank separation barrier. Palestinian residents of the el-Sulmona village in the West Bank gathered to observe as bulldozers began digging the earth to pave the land for a network of razor tipped wires and cement walls, which will soon cut Palestinian residents off from their land in the West Bank. "This land, this is what we live off, the olives which we feed our children with, they uprooted them, the vines the grapes which we live off, what can we do? They had heart attacks, all my uncles had heart attacks," Im Mohamad owner of land being uprooted said. Israeli troops guarding the construction site began scuffling with angry residents. Using bats, soldiers prevented villagers from approaching the site. At least one Palestinian was beaten and detained. Palestinians denounce the construction of the barrier as a land grab that would deny them a viable state on land Israel captured in the 1967 war. Israel says the razor-tipped fences and towering concrete walls are needed to stop suicide bombers from infiltrating its cities. The International Court of Justice, in a non-binding decision from 2004, ruled the construction of the barrier on the occupied land illegal. Israel has so far built about half of a planned 670 km-long (400 mile) barrier in the West Bank since 2002.

ITN Source | February 28, 2007

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