Some pictures of the Wall 4

You can see the wall sweeping off into the distance. Israeli governments have justified building it on security grounds i.e. that it stops terrorist bomb attacks. But if that is so why doesn't the wall follow the original line of demarcation between the state of Israel pre-1967 war and the West Bank (the so-called Green Line)? In fact the wall takes in great chunks of extra land, and Israeli settlements which have been made, contrary to international law, in the West Band over the last 20 years at least. The result is that the West Bank, which is supposed to be the core of a new Palestinian State, is broken up into fragments, separated by checkpoints and roads for settler use only. Abu Dis is surrounded on three sides by the wall. People here are cut off from land that they own on the other side. In the northern part of the West Bank, villagers are cut off from olive groves which they own, and can't harvest them. I have heard about a volunteer movement for people from abroad who come and pick the olives for them.

A student told me yesterday that at first the wall was only one metre high and was easy to climb over. They could still get to Jerusalem. Then they built it higher till it was impossible to climb over. He reckoned it was a deliberate policy to get people used to the idea of having a wall by degrees so that in time they would accept it. I think that used to be called 'salami tactics'. You cut a bit off then another bit, then another. Each bit is very small and you hardly notice it. In the end though, it is all gone.