A United Nations human rights investigator on Tuesday called for international condemnation of the security wall Israel is building between it and the West Bank, saying it amounted to illegal annexation of Palestinian land.
John Dugard, appointed by the UN human rights commission as special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said the defensive barrier incorporated substantial areas of the West Bank. It took in nearly half the 400,000 settler population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
His report came on the eve of a cabinet meeting at which the Israeli government is due to decide whether the wall will pass east of the so-called Ariel bloc, a string of settlements that juts around 20km into the West Bank. The US administration has objected to the route.
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