Between games and propaganda: the removal of West Bank roadblocks

[ProgressiveMuslim]

The Palestine Monitor, Apr 20, 2008

At the beginning of April, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak announced to US Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice the removal of 61 roadblocks throughout the West Bank. This was supposed to "make life easier for Palestinians" and to show that Israel is doing its best to prepare for peace talks later this year.

The United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has examined the Israeli claim carefully and has found that only 44 roadblocks had been removed, well short of the promised 61. According to OCHA, 6 more of the roadblocks on Barak's list have been left in place. The remaining 11 simply never existed.

A close examination of the 44 roadblocks which existed and were removed reveals that most of them had no implications whatsoever for Palestinians' freedom of movement. Only 5 of these 44 obstacles were classified by the U.N. as "significant" for Palestinians living in the area. The remaining obstacles were classified as of "little", "no", or "questionable" significance, often noting that there were other major roadblocks nearby, that they were located in insignificant areas (such as open fields) or even that some had been built and removed on the same day.

Building roadblocks in the morning, removing them in the afternoon

This is what happened in the area of Tulkarm, more specifically on the roads connecting the villages of Bal'a to Anabta and Dhinnaba to Izbat Abu Khmeish.

On 31 March, Israeli soldiers went to this area and closed both roads by blocking them with stones and sand, preventing anyone from getting through. The main roads in between the villages were closed as well as the smaller alternative dirt roads, leaving would-be travelers no option but to return from where they came.

Later that day, soldiers returned to the area and removed a few of these roadblocks. The Israeli army then published an official statement explaining that they had removed the promised number of roadblocks. Their list included the roadblocks near Tulkarm established in the morning and removed in the afternoon.

The Israeli statement obviously did not mention the absurd character of these roadblock removals, neither did it mention that several roadblocks on the road between Dhinnaba and Izbat Abu Khmeish were also established on the same day, but were not removed...

read on!
http://imeu.net/news/article008502.shtml

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. RESTRICTION ON MOVEMENT: Just another day under Israel's "not so bad" occupation.

[Vegasaurus]

2. Quit blowing up Israelis as a national goal

and there wouldn't be any roadblocks or checkpoints.

History is on Israel's side on this. Read up a bit.

[notfullofit]

3. Just what would happen if Israel

removed all the roadblocks and barriers?

[Phx_Dem]

7. Suicide bombers would have free access to Israel

Which is why they were built in the first place. Prior to 2000 there were no check points or security fences in the OTs.

[notfullofit]

8. I thank you

it is as I thought.

[Violet_Crumble]

9. You thought wrong...

Phx_Dem claims that there were no checkpoints before 2000. That's wrong. They've existed since the early 90's...

http://www.btselem.org/english/Freedom_of_Movement/Closure.asp

[notfullofit]

10. This is the part I was referring to

'Suicide bombers would have free access to Israel'

[Vegasaurus]

12. Checkpoints make life miserable for Palestinians

but save lives of Israelis.

The Palestinans and their leadership have chosen militancy and terrorism over anything more positive.

Until they change their national goal of murdering Israelis, there will be checkpoints.

[Violet_Crumble]

13. This 'national goal of murdering Israelis' crap is mindless stereotyping...

Tell me more about this whole 'national goal' thing, Veggie. Do you honestly think that the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has a 'national goal of murdering Israelis'? Or is this 'national goal' thing something that's applied to the entire population? See, I'm thinking that all this 'national goal' thing is is taking something negative and applying it with a broad-brush to an entire population and saying it's a 'national goal'. In which case, similar negative things could be said about the 'national goal' of Americans....

[Vegasaurus]

14. If the Palestinians devoted as much time to building their own state

as trying to annihilate another, their national goal would be different.

The majority of their people would rather starve and live in the dark than give up their resistance.

That is just plain stupid, but that is their stated goal.

If the national aspirations of the Palestinians included having a state (not the state of Israel, but their own state: Palestine) they could have had one ten times already.

It is clear that having their own separate state isn't the goal at all.

[notfullofit]

15. I'd like to ask

someone who is well informed re the Palestinian/Israel situation, how does the Hamas Charter come into play?
Does it play any role?
How important is it?

Thanks for any response.

[azurnoir]

16. The Hamas Charter

and the Fatah Charter same basically the same thing where Israel is concerned, I have posted the links so many times it is tedious but

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2051

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124315

There is also a Wiki link that has been very recently edited 5/22/08, I know where the edit is at least in the applicable area. The edit leads to a link that claims the charter was "officially" chaged but that runs counter to what was said a paragraph above, if the charter was so "officially" changed why is not used on Fatahs web site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah

This is why I have found the whole Fatah=good we talk Hamas=bad we isolate a bit contrived.

[notfullofit]

17. Thanks but I

have read the entire charter.

My question was what role does it play?
How important is it to the Palestinian people.
Are they seen as "rules to live by"?

[azurnoir]

18. which charter Hamas or Fatah

or both, my oint is why all of attention to the Hamas charter and none to Fatah's, you sdo realize that there were still rockets when Fatah was part of or the entire government in Gaza, why should Hamases{sp) charter play a role but Fatah's not, it is rarely mentioned.
Perhaps the best answer I can give is that changing Hamases charter should be part of the negotiations. If you look at everything that has happened why is Hamas being held to higher standards than Fatah?

[notfullofit]

19. I have read

both charters and you're right, there's not a dime's worth of difference between them.
I guess the west is more familiar with the Hamas charter because Hamas is more prone to act on theirs and Fatah has calmed down.
Then of course Hamas is designated a terrorist organization and Fatah is not.
I do believe Fatah has now said they have ammended their constitution and have recognised Israel's right to exist (although Articles 8 and 12 are still in there) where Hamas has not.

[azurnoir]

5. So the West Bank is being punished

for Gaza's acts, a couple of days ago you were insisting that Gaza and the West Bank were totally seperate , nothing to do with each other and in fact the 2 political rivals "hated each more than they hated the Israeli's", so which is it are they separate or the same entity? Or as I suspected is it "they are what WE say they are, when ever we say it"

Now as far as history goes were you speaking of the last 60 years, or biblically?

[azurnoir]

4. Sadly this describes exactly

what I expected when I read the "breathless" announcement that Israel was "removing" at least 50 roadblocks.

[Scurrilous]

6. Israel falsifies lifting of movement restrictions

Despite its claims of removing physical obstructions to "ease" movement, Israel continues to impose sweeping restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank

<snip>

"The government recently announced that at the end of March 2008, the army began removing 61 physical obstructions – dirt piles, boulders, and blocks – it had placed inside the West Bank. The obstructions were purportedly removed following Israel’s commitment, made in March to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to reduce restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank. However, B'Tselem’s investigation and investigations by other human rights organizations indicate that the government’s declaration was no more than sleight of hand.

B'Tselem requested from the public-relations unit of the Ministry of Defense and from the Coordinator of Government Operations in the Territories a list of the physical obstructions that had allegedly been removed. To date, neither of the two governmental bodies has provided such a list. Relying on reports given to journalists, diplomats, and international organizations, B'Tselem independently compiled the list. When it investigated further, B'Tselem found that Israel’s claims were false.

Most of the physical obstructions on the list had, in fact, been breached by local Palestinians or had been remove d by the army itself before Israel made its commitment to Secretary Rice. An appreciable number of the obstructions and been placed in the northern West Bank, primarily in the area of Tulkarm, Qalqiliya, and Jenin, immediately after the terror attack in Dimona, on 4 February 2008, and were removed in the following weeks. Other physical obstructions on the list, many of which had been placed at the entrance to dirt roads leading to private farmland, had little effect on the fabric of life of the general population. However, obstructions placed on vital roads, affecting the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank, were not on the list.

Furthermore, at a number of places in the northern West Bank, obstructions that had previously been removed by the residents were moved back into place by army bulldozers. The army then took pictures of these obstructions before removing them the same day or the following day. Examples of this staging of removal follow."

more

[Scurrilous]

11. UN says Israel erected more West Bank roadblocks

Number of checkpoints has increased by 41 since September despite Israeli pledges to reduce them, Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3547078,00.html

<snip>

"The number of roadblocks in the West Bank has increased by 41 since September despite Israeli pledges to reduce them, the United Nations reported on Friday.

The total number of roadblocks in the Palestinian territory rose from 566 on September 4 to 607 by April 29, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

A total of 144 new closures were erected while 103 were removed, an OCHA report said.

The closures severely restrict the mobility of people and goods within the West Bank, and also affect access of UN staff crossing from the West Bank to Jerusalem, the agency added.

The international community has urged Israel to ease restrictions on movement in the West Bank as part of peace efforts with the Palestinians.

During a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in March, Israel pledged to remove 50 West Bank roadblocks.

Israeli authorities later claimed they did away with 61 roadblocks, but OCHA said only 44 had actually been removed and that most of those were of little or no significance."