In June 2002, the government of Israel decided to erect a physical barrier to separate Israel and the West Bank, its declared objective being to prevent the uncontrolled entry of Palestinians into Israel. In most areas, the barrier is comprised of an electronic fence with dirt paths, barbed-wire fences, and trenches on both sides, at an average width of 60 meters. In some areas, the defense establishment decided to build a concrete wall six to eight meters high in place of the barrier. The length of the system – already built, under construction, or in planning – is 709 kilometers, a distance twice as long as the Green Line.

Since the Cabinet's decision to build the Separation Barrier, Palestinians have filed dozens of petitions against the Barrier's route. In June 2004, the Supreme Court held, in the matter of a petition filed by a number of villages northwest of Jerusalem, that most of the route planned around these villages was illegal, and that the state must propose another route. In light of the judgment, Prime Minister Sharon directed the defense establishment to reconsider the route. A new route was proposed, and the Cabinet approved the amended route in February 2005.

In September 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the state must alter the route around the Alfe Menashe settlement, which enveloped the Palestinian villages Wadi Rasha and Ras a-Tira. In September 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the state must alter the Barrier’s route around the village Bil’in, and thereby return to the village 700 dunams of land that had been taken to expand the Modi’in Illit settlement. Still, 1,500 dunams of Bil’in land remained on the western side of the Barrier.