Ali Ayyad used to run the Cliff Hotel, but he and his wife can only look at it from the other side of an electric fence. Six years ago, the Israeli government seized this property in Abu Dis, a Palestinian suburb of Jerusalem.

Ali is collateral damage of Israel’s security wall, which marks the current border with the West Bank. Like many Palestinians here, he is left on one side, his property on the other.

A minor victory: over a 50-metre stretch, an electric fence was one day put up instead of the wall. But Ali is still left without a job. He fills his days running several charities, for women and children.

He fears that his legal battle with Israel might never benefit future generations. Back home, the conversation turns to Israel’s parliamentary elections.As far as the Ayyad family is concerned, it’s a non-event.

This is a widespread feeling among Palestinians in the West Bank. Like Ali, many feel that Israel’s elections will make little difference to life on this side of the wall.