Israel's barrier to sever Jerusalem from WBank- UN

JERUSALEM, July 9 (Reuters) A barrier Israel is building in the West Bank will effectively separate Arab East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied territory, a report issued today 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 barrier, a mix of wire fencing and concrete walls, 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 720 kilometre barrier started in 2003 on land it captured in a 1967 war.

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

The planned completion of a barrier around a settlement in the 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 barrier under construction around a settlement 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.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 conflict and declared all of Jerusalem its eternal and united capital in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians want to make East Jerusalem the capital of a state they aspire to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Commenting on other sections of the Israeli barrier, the UN report said the fences and walls 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.

It said Israel had tightened procedures to obtain such ''visitor'' permits, so far granted to only 40 per cent of the Palestinian farmers who need them to cultivate land they own on the Israeli side of the barrier.

Israel has opened gates in the barrier to facilitate some movement, but half were open for a shorter time than scheduled, and subsequently ten towns in the northern West Bank lacked round-the-clock access to emergency services, the report said.

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

REUTERS SV PM2025