Salah Mustapha HAMMOUDI in his olive tree orchard near the settlement of Ariel. His olive tress have been cut in order to make way for the eventual security barrier. His family owned about ten acres with around 500 olive trees. Today he is only able to harvest his olive crop from five trees. The Jewish settlers prevent him from picking the olives from the trees that surround their settlement. "With our olive trees, we can live 1000 years without working -- without them, we will not be able to survive," says Mr. Hammoudi.

The settlement of Ariel is 20 km inside the West Bank. The Sharon government had originally planned to build the separation wall around Ariel and a few other settlements thereby incorporating them into Israel. The American government has threatened to reduce financial aid to Israel if the Israeli government proceeds with this plan. For Mr. Hammoudi there is no doubt that Israel will eventually get what it wants.