United Nations: Israel has quickened the pace of erecting the security barrier across the Palestinian territories over the last month, a top United Nations official has said, urging Tel Aviv to stop the project and dismantle about 145 km of wall already built.

The halting of the construction would begin to address the Palestinian concerns about the viability of future Palestinian state and assist in building support among Palestinian for the peace process, he said.

Briefing the Security Council on October 21, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast said the barrier is dividing Palestinian communities and families and threatening to seal off Jerusalem from West Bank.

"Palestinians along the barrier's route face land loss and severely restricted access to jobs, markets and essential social services. We repeat our call to the Israeli authorities to halt construction of the wall," he said.

The barrier comprises a thick wall as high as eight meters at some places, electronic fence, razor sharp wires and trenches. Israel says that it needs it to prevent suicide bombers from Palestinian territories entering its territory.

But Palestinians strongly object to it and are urging international community to force Israel tear it down, saying that Tel Aviv is grabbing Palestinian lands and trying to create a de facto border.

Prendergast's report comes a day after the UN General Assembly heard Speaker after Speaker asking Israel to dismantle the barrier and warning that it could be taken to mean that it was trying to establish a border, something which must be negotiated with the Palestinians.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Defence Force had ordered closure of areas between the barrier and Israel's 1967 border with West Bank, specifying that "people aged 12 years and older who resided in these areas before the military order was issued must now have entry permits to continue doing so. Free access will be granted only to Israelis," Prendergast said.

The declaration, he said, applied to 25,000 acres of land and as many as 12,000 Palestinians would be left in enclaves, he said and asserted that this order marks an "unacceptable deepening" of restrictions against Palestinians in the area.

PTI