Last update - 01:49 28/10/2007
PA: Israel must dismantle 16 W. Bank roadblocks
By Avi Issacharoff
The Palestinian Authority is demanding that Israel remove 16 roadblocks in the West Bank, as part of the implementation of the first stage of the road map.
The demand, which was made a few months ago, was repeated during Friday's meeting between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to Saeb Erekat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's negotiating team.
Members of both the Israeli and Palestinian teams also attended the meeting. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the head of the Israeli team, was there, as were her PA counterpart, Ahmed Qureia, Olmert's chief of staff Yoram Turbowicz, political adviser Shalom Turgeman, Erekat and PA government secretary Sadi al-Krunz.
Erekat said in the post-meeting press conference that both parties agreed that the first stage of the road map must be implemented immediately. He said that while the Palestinian side already has implemented some parts of the first stage and will implement others shortly, the Israeli side has not kept up its side of the bargain: halting construction in the settlements and withdrawing to the September 28, 2000 borders. He said the PA is about to deploy about 500 police officers in the Nablus area.
Erekat told Haaretz that part of the withdrawal to the September 2000 borders necessitates the dismantling of 16 roadblocks, including those in the following locations: Qalandiyah (south of Ramallah), Tarqumiya (west of Hebron), Hawara (south of Nablus), Hamra (in the Jordan Valley), southern entrance of Jericho, Wadi Nar (northeast of Bethlehem) and Beit Furiq (east of Nablus).