Israeli Barrier Isolates W. Bank Village

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Israeli Barrier Isolates W. Bank Village

SHEIK SAAD, West Bank - Isolated on a hilltop, the residents of Sheik Saad always looked to nearby Jerusalem as their link to the world. Now that Israel is building its West Bank barrier here, all they can do is look — the only road out of the village is blocked.


Some of its 2,000 resident say they are giving up and leaving, because the barrier will cut them off from hospitals, schools and jobs.

Israel says it needs the series of walls, fences and razor wire around the West Bank to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians say the barrier is an Israeli ploy to confiscate land and eliminate the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state.

The barrier is about one-quarter completed.

Many villages and towns share the fate of Sheik Saad, cut off from farmlands and services. But the village — cut off from Jerusalem by the barrier and from the rest of the West Bank by the valley — highlights the plight.

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Israeli Barrier Isolates W. Bank Village