New barrier will slice through West Bank farmland

The death knell for the Palestinian village of Atouf, on the western slopes of the Jordan valley, arrived in the form of a trail of paper, a series of eviction notices taped to homes, greenhouses and wells, marking a straight line across the open fields.

- By Julian Borger and Quique Kierszenbaum

The notices, which appeared overnight, informed farmers that their land would be confiscated and that they had seven days to vacate their properties. A military road and accompanying barrier was to be built by Israel right through the area.

Lawyers for the Atouf council lodged an appeal, but bitter experience has taught Palestinians here to have low expectations of Israeli courts.

"The Israeli military can do anything they like. They don't care about the law," said Ismael Bsharat, a farmer.

Similar eviction notices had been delivered on the same day all along a 22km strip of Palestinian farmland running north to south through Atouf, following the route of the planned road and fence. And last week it became clear that this abrupt gash across Palestinian land was the first section of a new line of division that would redraw the map of the West Bank.

Israel's defence ministry said this would mark only the first section of a new 5.5bn-shekel ($1.7bn) barrier that will eventually run 500km, from the Golan Heights on the Syrian border to the north all the way down to the Red Sea near Eilat. Labelled "Crimson Thread" by the Israeli military, the barrier will split countless Palestinian communities along its route.