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Israeli army cranes have begun to remove a concrete barrier that shielded a Jewish neighborhood bordering the West Bank — a sign that calm is taking hold in the Palestinian territory.

An Israeli army crane loads a section of dismantled concrete wall in the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in Jerusalem. photo/ap/sebastian scheiner

The Israeli military erected the 600-yard concrete barrier nine years ago on the outskirts of the Gilo neighborhood in southern Jerusalem because of repeated Palestinian shootings from the West Bank town of Beit Jala.

The Israeli military said it is no longer needed because of a reduced security threat and improved coordination between Israeli and West Bank security force.

Gilo is a neighborhood of about 40,000, and it sits on land Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed to Jerusalem.— ap