[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli troops on Sunday began demolishing a huge concrete wall erected nine years ago to prevent shooting attacks towards Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood in occupied east Jerusalem.
Soldiers wearing construction helmets began removing the towering slabs from one of the streets, lowering them onto a truck, an AFP correspondent said, in operation likely to take a fortnight.
The two-meter-high concrete barrier was set up in 2001 along several streets on the southernmost edge of Gilo which sits just across the valley from the West Bank Palestinian village of Beit Jala.
The military said the wall was being razed as a result of the long spate of calm prevailing in the area. |