Assaf Oron writes:
First, the happy talk by lazy reporters: "Israel removes dozens of West Bank roadblocks."
And now,
the party spoiler Gideon Levy, who actually goes on the ground to report: the
"removed" Jericho checkpoint was replaced by a "Palestinian Authority"
checkpoint – set up at the instructions of Israel, and taking orders
about whom to pass from Israel! (sorry, Hebrew link, don't have the English one yet)My friend Ehud from Villages Group also clarifies: No major
checkpoint has been removed. The soldiers are still there. They are
just (for the moment) instructed not to check (almost) anyone. This can
change with a single phone call. A happy life in the West Bank indeed.It is good news that Palestinians now can get from (some) major cities
to (some) others in 1-2 hours instead of 1 day – infinity, but this
appears to be a temporary "carrot and stick" game designed to fool the
Americans, and perhaps pave the way to a full-fledged Palestinian
protectorate in the West Bank.
