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Dirt barriers removed in West Bank as car-stoning ebbs By Yuval Azoulay In the past six weeks there has been a marked drop in stone-throwing aimed at Israeli vehicles traveling on roads near the West Bank town of Qalqilyah and surrounding villages. according to Israeli liaison officials, two months ago the tally stood at many dozens of stoning incidents every month. Over the past month and a half there have been only a handful of such incidents. Advertisement Israeli army officers attribute the change to activity they term "actual" on the part of Palestinian police forces deployed in Qalqilyah, and more recently also in some of the villages nearby: "They put a really strong emphasis on the informational aspect," the head of the liaison authority in Qalqilyah, Lieutenant Colonel Samir Amar, said on Tuesday. "They go into school classrooms and talk to the pupils, while underscoring that throwing stones at cars will be met by a harsh response. Now we are beginning to see results." In the past few years, the stone throwers have made life difficult for settlers in the area, and for Israelis driving on the Trans-Samaria Highway and Road 55. Young Palestinians, mainly teenagers, would take up positions on the hills overlooking these roads, and rain rocks down on almost every car with Israeli license plates. In recent months the settlers' patience finally ran out, and they mounted a demonstration outside the Qalqilyah liaison base, near Tzufim, demanding an end to the intolerable situation. According to Amar, there had been close to 20 stone-throwing incidents in an average month near the village of Azun; near the village of Marda'a there had even been incidents of oil spilled on the road to cause accidents. These incidents generally prompted an immediate response: Israeli Defense Forces troops would enter the villages, conduct searches, and arrest suspects. These sorts of operations have a natural tendency to spiral into mass disturbances within the villages, Amar said: "It happened almost daily. In most cases the stone throwers were teens who had gone astray, school dropouts who would come to the roads to throw rocks. We're talking about local endeavors, not an established terror group. When we'd enter the villages, sometimes we'd have to impose a curfew because of the disruptions of the peace." Amar described the outcome: "Because of all these incidents, we sealed off the villages, and erected big dirt barriers at the entrances and exits. A resident of Azun who had to reach Qalqilyah, and could drive there in six minutes, is forced to detour all around the sector and arrive in Qalqilyah after 45 minutes." Eventually the Palestinian police began to clamp down on the rock throwing. In addition to giving talks in schools, in which policemen demanded that pupils give up their criminal action, they have impressed the Qalqilyah liaison authority with the degree of enforcement and punishment for offenders. After six weeks of near-total quiet along the roads, Amar's office this week presented the carrot awarded Palestinians in the area: dozens of dirt barriers have lately been removed to ease the Palestinians' daily lives. This is part of a broad effort Israel promised the United States it would make to alleviate the plight of Palestinians in the West Bank. Some 100 dirt barriers have been removed throughout the West Bank in the past 10 months, and last weekend the army removed another 10 barriers in the Ramallah region. Amar tells of friendly liaison meetings between Palestinian police officers and Israeli army officers. But another officer in the sector says it will take a while to rebuild mutual trust. Palestinian officers come to these meetings unarmed, and Israel has insisted - at least for now - that all liaison meetings be held on its territory. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Kosher Idol A new Haredi reality show called 'The Upcoming Voice' makes 'American Idol' kosher. Chief Rabbi's savior New look at Nazi-era papers names mysterious rescuer of future Chief Rabbi.

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