Catholic bishops slam Israel separation barrier

A group of eight Roman Catholic bishops from Europe and North America have promised to press their governments to take position against Israel’s separation barrier in the Israel-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank.

“In the Cremisan Valley we heard about legal struggles to protect local people’s lands and religious institutions from the encroachment of the security barrier (‘the wall’),” the prelates said in a statement on the final day of their three-day-long visit to the West Bank on Thursday.

“We promise to continue urging our respective governments to act to prevent this injustice,” the bishops wrote.

The delegates attended Christian congregations in Bethlehem, Gaza Strip, and the Beit Jalla town.

In the valley, near Bethlehem, the barrier threatens to separate Palestinian communities from one another and from the land they till.

Israel began constructing the barrier in 2002 when the Palestinians had launched their second uprising.

Eighty-five percent of the wall would be inside the West Bank.

In a non-binding decision in 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) underscored the illegality of parts of the barrier built inside the West Bank. However, Israel has refused to tear it down.