In sign of stability, Israel removes blast wall

al Reuters ^ | 8/15/2010 | Tom Perry

[markomalley]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – In a sign of improved stability in the West Bank, Israel is removing concrete blast walls put up eight years ago to shield a settlement on Jerusalem's outskirts from Palestinian gunfire and shells.

Israeli army engineers on Sunday hoisted away sections of a 3-meter (10-foot) high concrete wall in Gilo, a settlement on the southern edge of Jerusalem targeted from the nearby West Bank town of Beit Jala during a Palestinian uprising.

The uprising, or Intifada, erupted in 2000, after the collapse of peace talks and died out some five years later.

"This is the first time that we have moved such a structure from a neighborhood that was directly hit by sniper fire and shells," Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Liebovich, a military spokeswoman, said. Settlements such as Gilo, built on Israeli-occupied land the Palestinians seek for a state, were targeted regularly during the Intifada. Suicide bombers also struck within Israel itself.

Gilo is built on land annexed by Israel to its Jerusalem municipality following a 1967 war in which it captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel's annexation of land around Jerusalem has never won international recognition.

[thulldud]

...Gilo, a settlement on the southern edge of Jerusalem....

It's a "neighborhood", or a "suburb", not a "settlement".

No bias here, oh, no.

[john drake]

I wouldn’t take down a piece of any defensive system built by the Israelis for the Israelis given their war with the muslims will never really end. I am not sure why they’d do it, even under the best of circumstances.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks markomalley. As you said, the semantic spin and bias in this "news" story is palpable.

hoisted away sections of a 3-meter (10-foot) high concrete wall in Gilo, a settlement on the southern edge of Jerusalem targeted from the nearby West Bank town of Beit Jala

[Pecos]

Now that the wall has been removed, stand by for an attack from that direction. There is no “turning the other cheek” in Islam.

[DoorGunner]

Ezekiel 38
3and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal.
...
10’Thus says the Lord GOD, “It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will (T)devise an evil plan,

11and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of [a](U)unwalled villages I will go against those who are (V)at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates,

12to (W)capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.’