The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced yesterday that the Israeli authorities had somewhat eased travel restrictions for Palestinians to and from four cities in the West Bank: Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus and Qalqilyah.
However OCHA also said that the Israel Defense Forces claim that there are only 16 manned roadblocks in the West Bank is incorrect. According to OCHA there are 69 manned roadblocks.
However, this number includes 37 roadblocks between the West Bank and Israel, or roadblocks that are part of the separation fence, which the IDF does not include in its total number.
Not including the 37, OCHA's count is still 32, which is double the number of manned roadblocks the IDF says there are.
According to OCHA, there are also 521 unstaffed roadblocks throughout the West Bank, including earthen barricades, gates, concrete blocks, etc, as well as 23 "partial" roadblocks, a designation for roadblock structures are staffed some of the time.
