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Israel agrees to remove major roadblocks { February 9 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10475-2005Feb9.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10475-2005Feb9.html
Israel Agrees to Remove Major Roadblocks
Move Is Part of Security Handoff in West Bank
By Mohammed Daraghmeh
Associated Press
Wednesday, February 9, 2005; 9:24 AM
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that Israel has agreed to remove major roadblocks as part of its withdrawal from five West Bank towns in coming weeks -- the most tangible improvement in the lives of Palestinians as a result of a truce agreed to at a breakthrough summit.
Following Tuesday's Mideast summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Israeli and Palestinian officials returned home and were working to hammer out the details of a cease-fire, trying restore trust in the post-Yasser Arafat era after four years of bloodshed.
On Wednesday, a senior Israeli military official confirmed that several roadblocks would be removed as part of the handover of security to the Palestinians.
Israeli army checkpoints ring all West Bank towns, with soldiers checking documents of all those entering and leaving, whether in cars or on foot. Long lines often form at these checkpoints, severely disrupting the lives of Palestinians. During more than four years of fighting, troops often sealed off towns entirely.
In the coming three weeks, Israel is to hand over security control in the towns of Jericho, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem and Ramallah. The timetable was agreed to at Abbas' meeting Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Returning to his West Bank office Wednesday, Abbas said: "The Israelis will withdraw from the cities and the adjacent areas and they will leave checkpoints, and Palestinian security forces will replace them at these checkpoints."
A senior Israeli official said Wednesday that a second summit between Ariel Sharon and Abbas could take place within a week at the Israeli prime minister's ranch.
Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Sharon, said there will be a series of meetings between officials in the next few days to finalize the details. The meeting, he said could take place as early as "in the coming days or a week."
Sharon invited Abbas to meet him at his Sycamore Ranch in southern Israel during Tuesday's summit.
Gissin also said Sharon has invited Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to meet him in Jerusalem. Mubarak did not immediately answer, but the sides will discuss the possibility of a summit in Jerusalem in the coming weeks, Gissin said.
In the first reported violation of the truce, Palestinians opened fire on a car near a West Bank Jewish settlement after nightfall Tuesday and fired and threw firebombs at an army force that came to investigate, the Israeli military said. No one was hurt. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, claimed responsibility.
"What we agreed upon today is simply the beginning of the process of bridging the gap," Abbas said.
In a well-orchestrated appearance following a series of private discussions, the two leaders read statements in their native languages, pledging an end to the violence. Sharon said Israel's military would halt its raids, and Abbas said Palestinian militants would stop attacking Israelis.
It was reminiscent of a summit in neighboring Jordan in 2003, when a similar truce was declared. It collapsed after less than two months in bloody suicide bombings and Israeli reprisal raids.
This time, the cease-fire agreement was accompanied by several concrete goodwill gestures.
Five hundred Palestinian prisoners are to freed next week by Israel, to be followed by 400 more at a later stage. Sharon's office said a ministerial committee to discuss prisoners would meet Sunday.
Also, Israeli troops will complete their handover of five West Bank towns to Palestinian control within three weeks, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said. Israeli and Palestinian security commanders are to meet Wednesday to prepare the handover of Jericho, the first West Bank town on the list of five.
On the streets of Israel and the Palestinian territories, people were careful not to hope too much.
"We've gone from euphoria to extreme disappointment," said Shimrit Golan, 26, an Israeli law student who lives in Jerusalem. "We'll wait and see what happens."
"In the end, we have to pray for peace, because violence will lead us to self-destruction," said Yussef Said, 60, a shopkeeper in Gaza City.
In one of the most symbolic gestures out of the summit, Sharon invited Abbas to visit him at his ranch in southern Israel and Abbas accepted, Israeli official Gideon Meir said.
In another signal the talks went well, Egypt and Jordan announced they would return their ambassadors to Israel after a four-year absence -- possibly within days.
The first crack in the optimistic front came from the violence Islamic Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings that killed hundreds of Israelis.
Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, said Israel did not fulfill Palestinian demands to release prisoners and halt aggression. Therefore, he said, the truce is not binding on Hamas.
Associated Press writers Lara Sukhtian, Salah Nasrawi and Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Sharm el-Sheik contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Associated Press
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