QALQILIYA (Ma’an) -- A local official said Monday that more than 3,000 Palestinians have lost land behind Israel's separation wall in the northern West Bank town of Qalqiliya, in remarks on the eighth anniversary of the International Court of Justice's ruling its route is illegal.

PA official monitoring the wall in Qalqiliya Mohammed Abu Sheikh said Israel circumvented the ruling by following Israeli court decisions to annex land behind the wall.

Residents who lost land can no longer farm their fields without permission, he said.

Local farmer Yousef Al-Raee told Ma'an his agricultural livelihood is threatened every season as the Israeli authorities delay issuing permits to him and his family in order to tend land behind the wall.