UN-Truth

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Roadblock, has now said that roadblocks in the West Bank are great, they serve Israel’s purpose, and they will remain! That is despite the commitments made at the Annapolis conference. It will be interesting to see the arguments made to justify this…

Look at this neat and clean roadblock, pictured in an IDF file photo published in the Jerusalem Post today — there are not 20-50 cars (or more) backed up, waiting, waiting, and waiting. There are no Palestinian teenagers being led away in handcuffed pairs. There are no Palestinian young women in jeans and headscarves being pushed around by groups of IDF female soldiers with rifles, as another dozen armed Israeli men (soldiers, border police, and “private security contractors”) look on without intervening — only explaining that this young Palestinian woman was trying to get through the checkpoint by force. There are no Israeli soldiers ordering American journalists, with a wave of the head, and in Arabic: “imshi” - “get going”.

There is just a neat picture of a crisply flying Israeli flag (in the West Bank) stopping a UN car — bound to be popular with the home readership.

And, let’s not forget, there are between 300 and 600 of these checkpoints (fixed and “flying”) in the West Bank at any given point in time…

The Jerusalem Post reported today that “Barak told a group of soldiers from the Golani Brigade, deployed near Nablus, that ‘the checkpoints have proven themselves, and without real daily control of the territory there is no way to conduct an effective battle against terrorism‘ …
Barak confirmed that Israel had removed two checkpoints - one near Hebron and the other near the Judean Desert - out of the 16 large crossings, in addition to a number of temporary dirt roadblocks that were also recently lifted. ‘We may ease restrictions even more, here and there’, he said. But despite these efforts, Barak said that the majority of roadblocks would remain. The Palestinians recently complained that Barak posed a stumbling block to peace talks due to his opposition to remove more roadblocks in the West Bank … ‘We need to ensure the security of our citizens - here in the center and throughout the entire country’, he said. ‘We are not going to stop overseeing the flow of traffic and our operations in these territories‘.”

This JPost report is published here.

Haaretz reported, with an ever-so-slightly different take on Barak’s remarks to soldiers at a checkpoint near the main northern West Bank city of Nablus, that “The defense minister added, however, that Israel was making an attempt to alleviate the Palestinians’ plight … ‘We are trying to make life easier for the Palestinians by opening roadblocks on the outskirts’, he said. ‘We have recently opened dozens of dirt blockings and removed two of the 16 major roadblocks. We may do a few other things to ease the Palestinians’ lives’.”

This Haaretz report is posted here.

Filed under: Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians