UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warns in a new report that Israel’s construction of a massive security wall in the West Bank could “damage the longer-term prospects for peace by making the creation of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state more difficult”. Annan said the wall is expected to cut off 240,000 Palestinians from their communities and leave 160,000 Palestinians in areas almost entirely surrounded by the barrier which has been described as an apartheid wall and has been compared to the Berlin Wall. In October the UN General Assembly voted 144 to 4 to demand Israel tear down the wall. [ Download Report] In related news the Israeli army has killed a nine-year-old Palestinian and three suspected members of Hamas today during a large raid in Ramallah. Dozens of Palestinians were also arrested.