25 years since Berlin Wall fell, Palestinians smash West Bank barrier

As the western world marks 25 years since the Berlin Wall came down, a group of Palestinian youths have reminded people they still live behind a wall.

Wielding sledgehammers, and somehow after having evaded Israeli security, the group made a hole in the Israeli West Bank barrier in the village of Bir Nabala, near Ramallah in the West Bank.

It doesn't matter how high the barriers will be, they will fall. Like the Berlin Wall fell - the Palestinian wall will fall.

• Statement attributed to the protesters by the Palestinian Ma'an News agency.

The Berlin Wall was seen as a symbol for oppression under communism and its fall is regarded as the key event in German reunification.

Israel began its West Bank barrier in 2002, ostensibly for security reasons, but critics say the wall, which will be 700km (430 miles) when complete, will be 85 per cent inside the West Bank.

In Arabic it is called 'the wall of apartheid', and allusions to the Berlin Wall are common.

(Pictures: AP, AFP, Getty and Creative Commons)

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