The Semiramis post, which lies to the south of Ramallah on the way to Jerusalem, was taken down after a routine strategic review, an army spokesman said.

"The IDF (army) has been renting the area from the Jerusalem municipality since 1982 but a standard re-evaluation deemed it unencessary and shut it down," he added.

Thousands of Palestinians used to pass the position which was manned 24 hours a day but it has been scaled down in recent months.

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