23/4/2004
Israeli Wall Is 'Devastating Blow' to Palestine

United Nations delegates have expressed their deep concern about the humanitarian, political and economic effects of the wall Israel is currently building in and around the West Bank.

In a document adopted at the end of a two-day meeting in Geneva last week, participants said the wall had dealt a devastating blow to an already fragile Palestinian economy. They said agricultural lands and water sources had been destroyed, confiscated or placed off-limits by the
barrier's construction.

Many speakers said the wall was a de facto annexation of Palestinian land, and its erection breached the letter and the spirit of the Road Map - the Middle East peace plan outlined by the diplomatic Quartet of the European Union, the Russian Federation, the UN and the United
States, which envisages Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, Permanent Observer for Palestine to UN Headquarters in New York, said after the meeting that the wall made the two-State solution practically impossible.

Delegates also stressed that the UN had permanent responsibility to resolve all issues surrounding the question of Palestine, and called on the international community should take immediate steps to stop the wall's construction.