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Rice welcomes Israeli move to ease restrictions on Palestinians
Dion Nissenbaum - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 3/27/08 Section: MCT News
JERUSALEM _ Four months into the Bush administration's final push for peace, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice secured a modest agreement from Israel on Sunday designed to shore up Palestinian security forces and scale back the number of roadblocks hobbling the West Bank economy.
Along with a pledge to remove 50 dirt berms, Israel agreed to allow 700 newly trained Palestinian soldiers to take up posts in the northern West Bank city of Jenin and approved delivery of 25 armored personnel carriers for the Palestinian Authority.
Rice praised the Israeli moves as a "very good first step" that could help bolster ongoing peace talks.
But Palestinian leaders voiced skepticism and noted that Israel had failed to follow through on previous pledges to remove roadblocks or provide Palestinian security forces with updated military equipment.
"I will believe it when I see it," said veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "We have heard this many, many times before."
Israel's network of nearly 600 roadblocks, checkpoints and barriers is one of the main ways its military controls life for the 2.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Israel previously agreed to reduce the number of West Bank roadblocks, but it has actually boosted the number by more than 10 percent over the two years, according to United Nations figures.
Since President Bush launched his latest peace plan in Annapolis last November, Israel has added another 20 West Bank roadblocks, bringing the overall number to 580.
After hosting a rare three-way meeting on Sunday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, Rice said that she expected roadblock removal to take place quickly.
"We have been told this is going to start _ and hopefully even be completed in a relatively short period of time," Rice said. "I'm not going to give you a day, but I'm expecting it to happen very, very soon."
Along with a pledge to remove 50 dirt berms, Israel agreed to allow 700 newly trained Palestinian soldiers to take up posts in the northern West Bank city of Jenin and approved delivery of 25 armored personnel carriers for the Palestinian Authority.
Rice praised the Israeli moves as a "very good first step" that could help bolster ongoing peace talks.
But Palestinian leaders voiced skepticism and noted that Israel had failed to follow through on previous pledges to remove roadblocks or provide Palestinian security forces with updated military equipment.
"I will believe it when I see it," said veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "We have heard this many, many times before."
Israel's network of nearly 600 roadblocks, checkpoints and barriers is one of the main ways its military controls life for the 2.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Israel previously agreed to reduce the number of West Bank roadblocks, but it has actually boosted the number by more than 10 percent over the two years, according to United Nations figures.
Since President Bush launched his latest peace plan in Annapolis last November, Israel has added another 20 West Bank roadblocks, bringing the overall number to 580.
After hosting a rare three-way meeting on Sunday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, Rice said that she expected roadblock removal to take place quickly.
"We have been told this is going to start _ and hopefully even be completed in a relatively short period of time," Rice said. "I'm not going to give you a day, but I'm expecting it to happen very, very soon."
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