Ma`aleh Adumim mayor to appeal new West Bank fence route

MA'ALEH ADUMIM MAYOR TO APPEAL NEW WEST BANK FENCE ROUTE

By Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondent

22/08/2008

The mayor of the biggest settlement in the West Bank, Ma'aleh Adumim, said Friday that he intends to appeal the state's decision to relocate part of the West Bank separation fence. The state attorney's office has said that in response to court petitions by Palestinian landowners it would reroute a section of the barrier running east of Maaleh Adumim, restoring Palestinian access to about 1,000 acres of farming and grazing land which the original plan would have placed on the Israeli side. "We shall fight this by all means at our disposal," Maaleh Adumim mayor Benny Kashriel told Army Radio Friday.In the court and through public opinion." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak had decided to reroute the West Bank separation fence, to enure that the barrier does not encroach on Palestinian land. A government statement said the new route represented a significant change in plans for the barrier to the east. Also on Thursday, nine protesters were lightly wounded when Israel Defense Forces troops fired rubber bullets during a demonstration against the separation fence in the West Bank village of Na'alin.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1014078.html