JERUSALEM — Israeli troops stormed a house in the West Bank and arrested 40 opponents of its controversial security barrier, 34 of them foreigners of the International Solidarity Movement, some of the detainees said.
The protestors were occupying the house in Mashah, near the town of Qalqiliya, in a bid to stop the Israelis bulldozing the Palestinian owner's garden to build the fence cutting off the West Bank from Israel.
They told AFP by telephone that the troops had arrested 34 foreigners and six Israelis and put them on two buses which were taking them to an unknown destination.
The Palestinians and rights groups charge that the barrier, which consists either of a strong fence or a concrete wall, is an attempt by Israel to annex the West Bank's "bread-basket" and unilaterally determine the borders of a future Palestinian state.
The ISM has been leading an aggressive campaign in recent weeks to protest against the fence as well as roadblocks hampering freedom of movement in the West Bank.
US activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah in March and fellow ISM member Tom Hurndall from the UK was declared clinically dead after being shot in the same area a month later.
Tuesday's arrests came as a senior US official told AFP the United States is considering punishing Israel for the construction of the barrier in Palestinian areas.
The plan would withhold from Israel US loan guarantees in the amount the Jewish state spends on the construction east of the official Green Line division between Israel and the West Bank, the official said.
Israel says the barrier is essential to prevent Palestinian militants infiltrating from the West Bank to carry out anti-Israeli attacks.
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