Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that Israel will soon begin making life easier for West Bank Palestinians, but that it won't remove checkpoints for now.
Barak said that Israel would facilitate the construction of several
industrial zones meant to provide thousands of jobs and boost the Palestinian economy. Many of the projects, funded by foreign governments, have been held up because of Israeli security concerns.
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However, Barak gave no timetable for the projects and did not say how he intended to move them forward.
Visiting a crossing terminal between the southern West Bank and Israel, Barak said Israel would soon take steps to expedite movement through the hundreds of checkpoints and roadblocks Israel has built in the West Bank.
Israel sees the barriers as a key element of a military policy that has
dramatically reduced Palestinian attacks in recent years. But Palestinians counter that the roadblocks humiliate them and stifle their economy.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, now an international Mideast envoy, has urged Israel to improve Palestinian movement, and during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday, the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, appealed to the U.S. to pressure Israel to take down checkpoints.
Barak indicated Monday such a move was not expected soon. The checkpoints
block militants and are vital to Israel's security, Barak said. He said only that the government would look into certain changes in a limited test area, but offered no further details. "It's still too early to give an answer, he said."
Nabil Amr, an aide to Abbas, criticized Barak's unwillingness to remove
checkpoints, saying his position violated Israel's commitments. Israel's
stated security concerns, Amr said, were a slogan.
"You cannot punish all of the Palestinians under the umbrella of security, Amr said."
Over the weekend, officials from Fatah and Hamas met in Yemen and signed
an agreement to continue reconciliation talks. However, on Monday, top aides to Abbas already were distancing themselves from the deal. Ahmed Qureia, a senior Abbas confidant, said the Fatah official in Yemen had only signed the agreement because of a misunderstanding.
Israeli officials said any power-sharing arrangement between Fatah and Hamas would mean an end to peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
Barak said Monday the agreement was not important. "I don't think anything happened in Yemen that requires a response from us, he said."
Meanwhile, an aide to Abbas, Ahmed al-Weidi, said he was detained by Israeli police and questioned for five hours. Al-Weidi, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs, said Israel wanted information about a visit to Lebanon last month. He said the trip was to discuss the Arab League's designation of Jerusalem as an Arab cultural capital.
"We have nothing to hide. It is outrageous that in the time the Israeli prime minister Olmert is meeting president Abbas they are at the same time arresting and interrogating his people, despite the fact that we went there on Abbas behalf," he said.
Israel bars Palestinian political activity in Jerusalem. It also has no diplomatic relations with Lebanon and is concerned about ties between Lebanese guerillas and Palestinian militant groups. Israeli police had no immediate comment
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