STORY UPDATED WITH VIDEO FOOTAGE Yesterday, Roger Waters paid a repeat visit to the West Bank separation wall in Israel, a place he visited three years ago (our report here, and see thumbnail to the right). Speaking to the Associated Press on this latest visit, he said he hoped that "this awful thing is destroyed soon."

"People who haven't actually seen this, what's going on here, can't actually imagine the impression that it has on you, the sick, kind of churning feeling that you get in your very heart when you see this, how depressing it is," Waters said. He promised that if it does come down one day, he'll perform at the site, as he did in Berlin 1990 where that wall had fallen. "In fact, I would insist on it," he said.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev wasn't too impressed with Roger's comments, quoting the most famous lyric from the 1979 album of The Wall. "We don't need no education about suicide bombers coming into Israel and murdering innocent people, and how the security barrier has prevented that by more than 95 percent."

The barrier, Israel insists, is a temporary security measure following attacks, but Palestinians say it is a land grab as it will slice off, when finished, some 10 percent of the West Bank.

Roger dismissed Israel's security argument, saying he believes the wall "is not here to stop Israelis being blown up on buses." He said if that was the sole reason, "what's it doing in the occupied territories, surrounding settlements and cutting (Palestinian) farmers off from their olive trees and so on and so forth? This is an exercise of colonialism," he said.

Roger told the press he believes the barrier is indefensible. "When you stand in front of an edifice like this, whether it's here or outside a township in South Africa, or in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Second World War, or in Berlin in the 60s and 70s, it's something you know instinctively that this is wrong. It's a bad thing," he said. "It cannot survive forever."

Finally, he ruled out a reunion with his former band mates. "We had a great career as Pink Floyd. We all enjoyed it. We all worked together and enjoyed everything and it was brilliant. I think it's over," he said.

UPDATE, June 8th: You can now see a video of Roger's talk at the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School in Jerusalem. In it Roger slams the Israeli occupation, saying the Palestinians "don't have a pot to piss in". Check out the video, with a total running time of around 33 minutes: Part 1 | Part 2 (Thanks to Roy Gilgun for the heads up on the video)

Please note: there are strong feelings on either side of the issues involved. As a site that fans come to for news of all the band members activities, our job is NOT to censor what they do but merely report on it for those who are interested. As such we won't enter into any correspondence into the rights and wrongs of Roger's viewpoints.