Khalid
Yassin of Ram Allah Human Rights Centre told Aljazeera.net on Tuesday
that farmers in the West Bank village of Mas'ha had in effect been
banned from their properties since 4 July due to the closure of Gate 46.
"Entry was always difficult - Israeli troops only allowed access at a couple of times during the day.
"But now occupation forces have shut the gate for
good, even though cattle still need to graze and crops need to be
tended to. The olive harvest in October and November will be
impossible," Yassin said.
No access
Yassin added that other gates, such as Gate 45, had
been shut for more than 18 months and that farmers had no practicable
access to their own land or any say about who might have access to it
on the other side of the wall.
"Soldiers told people in Mas'ha to use Gate 48 -
which is an 11km walk. Is it reasonable to expect farmers to walk 44km
every day just to visit their own farms on the other side of the wall?
"In any case, they will not have the right permits to
enter 48 - and will have next to no chance of successfully
obtaining one," Yassin concluded.
Delayed response
Aljazeera.net contacted Israel's District
Coordination Office in Qalqilya, the Civil Administration and a
spokesman for Israeli occupation forces to explain why Gate 46 was shut.
No one could give an immediate response.
The separation wall was built through the Palestinian village of Mas'ha in September 2003.
The built-up residential and business areas ended up
on one side, with 92% (or 5700 dunams) of the agricultural land on the
other.