Was treated to a somewhat scenic route to Btselem office. The cab driver had thought we were going to Bethlehem. We may have done the equivalent in miles going round West Jerusalem.
Btselem is a human rights organisation who have published over 125 reports. Each one contains a response from the authorities. Its said that their data is well respected as correct, verified and supported.
Whilst it has targeted this information on decision makers, diplomats and journalists, it hasn't targeted the Israeli public. That seems to me to be a mistake. And it would seem that they have just had an advertising campaign about the security fence and its negative effects on the Palestinian community.
It should be said that the barrier is overwhelmingly popular in Israel: 80% approve. Its building has coincided with a period of relative peace along the Western side of Israel and the seeming stopping of suicide bombings. The message that much of it is being built on someone else's land has not got through.
We were then taken on a tour of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and shown the double standards that are being applied to building of homes. Whilst the settlements are allowed to expand and are given permission to do so, it is almost impossible for Palestinians to get permits to develop even in the middle of a village. Whilst we were being shown round we were telephoned and told that the bulldozers and IDF had arrived in a village and were about to start knocking down houses that had been built without permits.
As we were running up the hill, my mobile went off. It was the BBC again. "I can't talk at the moment" I panted. "Can you hear that noise?" "Its bulldozers knocking down a house!"
I have a picture of Hahoma Settlement which has just been given a permit to add another 1000 homes to the settlement. You can see it through the rubble of the house I had seen demolished in Surbahir.
