Bereaved father to Barak: Leave West Bank roadblocks slated for removal intact

A bereaved father whose son was killed last November in a drive-by shooting near a West Bank settlement on Sunday called on Defense Minister Ehud Barak to leave West Bank "dirt mound" roadblocks slated for removal intact.

"Removing roadblocks means gambling with Israeli lives, and exposes us to shootings and suicide bombing attempts," Nahman Zoldan wrote in a letter addressed to the defense minister.

The letter came in response to the Israel Defense Forces' decision to remove 10 additional dirt roadblocks from the West Bank city of Hebron.

IDF and Civil Administration stated that the decision came as part of a series of measures aimed at boosting the quality of life of Palestinians in the region.

In his letter, Zoldan urged Barak to reconsider the decision. "Israeli citizens are currently exposed to shootings and suicide bombings in Judea and Samaria by infiltrators who wish to enter our country," Zoldan warned.

"As someone who buried a son as a result of a drive-by shooting perpetrated by Palestinians, I urge you not to trust security promises made by the Palestinian Authority."

Meanwhile, the United Nations issued a report last month showing that the number of Israeli obstacles in the West Bank has increased by 7 percent since last September, despite an Israeli pledge to ease Palestinian movement in the area as part of fledgling peace talks.

Israel promised the United States late last year following a U.S.-sponsored regional peace conference that it would remove 60 roadblocks. But after Israel announced that it had removed 50, the UN found at the time that only 44 of the 60 promised checkpoints were lifted, most of them temporary dirt mounds.

Some 500 roadblocks affect the PA economy, trade and mobility, according to a report released in April Peres Center for Peace, The Palestine Center for National Strategic Studies and the Danish government.

In addition, five official roadblocks regulating trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority exist. Limits on travel have put a major strain on the Palestinian economy that is at an unprecedented low, the report said.

	Ido Zoldan (center) was killed by a Palestinian in November last year (Reproduction)