WALAJEH, West Bank – Israel has started construction on a new section of its West Bank separation barrier that Palestinian residents say could sound a death knell for their hamlet.

The barrier, running much of the length of the West Bank, has already disrupted lives in many Palestinian towns and villages in its path. But it threatens to outright smother Walajeh: The community of about 2,000 on the southwest edge of Jerusalem is to be completely encircled by a fence cutting it off from most of its open land, according to an Israeli Defense Ministry map.

Walajeh old-timers are determined to stay, but doubt their children will feel the same way.

“We will cling to the village by our teeth,” said Adel Atrash, a council member. “But we don’t know how the next generation will look at things. Maybe they won’t be able to live with all the difficulties and decide to leave.”

Israel began building the barrier in 2002, saying it would be a temporary bulwark against Palestinian suicide bombers and gunmen who have killed hundreds of Israelis. However, the barrier’s zigzag through the West Bank brought allegations that Israel is unilaterally drawing a border and grabbing land by scooping up dozens of Jewish settlements.

Six years ago Friday, the International Court of Justice said in a nonbinding ruling that the barrier’s path through occupied territory violates international law and that Israel should tear down what it has built.

Israel rejected the decision, saying the barrier is crucial for keeping Israelis safe, and denies it is drawing a border.

“In future negotiations (on Palestinian statehood), the route of the security barrier will not constitute a political factor,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

Construction of the barrier continues as Israel and the Palestinians hold indirect negotiations the U.S. hopes will eventually lead to face-to-face talks on a peace treaty establishing a Palestinian state. But the Palestinians have refused direct negotiations without a complete freeze on settlement building.

Today, the barrier, almost two-thirds complete, runs for more than 250 miles through the West Bank and east Jerusalem, war-captured territories claimed by the Palestinians for a state. Once finished, the barrier would put 9.4 percent of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, on the Israeli side, along with 85 percent of half a million Israeli settlers, according to a U.N. report.

The barrier, walls of cement slabs in urban areas and wire fences in the country, has made it harder for tens of thousands of Palestinians to reach farmland, schools and medical care.

The Israeli military would not comment on how villagers are to get in and out of their enclave.