RAMALLAH, West Bank — The West Bank barrier project has been condemned by many for its crushing effects on the Palestinian people. Now steps are underway to document its devastation of nature and wildlife as well. The Palestinian Environment Quality Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture plan to prepare and present to the United Nations a comprehensive study on the direct consequences of the wall and its long-term hazardous effects on the environment.

The barrier has led to the destruction of green cover by uprooting hundreds of thousands of carob, olive, almond and palm trees, eradicating rare wild plants, eroding fertile surface soil and endangering the dynamic diversity of the region. Its construction is threatening some animal species with extinction, including wild birds, gazelles, stone hedgehogs, wolves and hyenas, said George Karzam, an environmental expert for Afaq, an environmental magazine. He told Al-Monitor the wall constitutes an obstacle to the preservation of ecosystems and natural attractions, as well as the connectivity between protected areas.

“The wall has deadly effects on the movement of wild animals as a result of the fragmentation of ecosystems between the land occupied in 1948 and the West Bank on the one hand, and the lack of communication among environmental corridors on the other.” The wall, he added, “caused the deterioration of vegetation in the West Bank as a result of the isolation of about 41 square kilometers [16 square miles] of natural forest plantations — or approximately 51% of the total forest areas​​.”

Karzam also pointed out that the barrier was built along the western basin, the richest Palestinian basin, where Israel dug more than 500 wells that are considered part of the so-called Israeli system.