BEIT JALA: Israel began construction a controversial part of its separation barrier in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, near a Palestinian Christian town.
Cranes began lifting eight-metre (yard) high blocks into place near Beit Jala, south of Jerusalem and close to Bethlehem, a photographer witnessed.
This part of the wall could cut Palestinians from their olive groves.
Nicola Khamis, mayor of Beit Jala, condemned what she saw as a land grab.”This land is for our families, our children,” she said by phone from the bridge next to the construction site.
