Next time Secretary Rice announces that Israel needs to eliminate road blocks, make sure she gets video of what happened today.

Why do you think Bush's Secretary wants the checkpoints removed ? Duh , So the terrorists will get by unhindered.

There's no telling how many lives she just saved. Thank you. Stay alert and be safe. Reminder: THIS is why those checkpoints remain necessary, Rice doesn't like it? Tough. She'll be out of office in three months anyway.

Exactly what is the relevance of reporting that this was a "female soldier"? Is the implication that women soldiers aren't expected to perform as well as men?

pity they didnt put the pipe bombs in the handbags of the leftie 'machsom' watchers who are there just to harass the soldiers doing theyre job. good job soldier, who knows how many lives you saved.

Two attacks thwarted in a week, G-d knows how many Israeli lives spared, how come no comment on the subject coming from Amnesty, or B¨selem, could it be that Israeli lives are not important to them, think about it.

In a world where in many places women aren't given basic rights and respect, it's nice to point out to the ignorant when such examples happen. A job well done, and btw..it was done by a capable woman.

I suppose it is to combat that very stereotype, not embrace it.

Women are often precluded from most combat duties. The fact that there have been attacks at checkpoints make her service and accomplishments noteworthy. Furthermore, it also likely that she volunteered for the position.

The gender is irrelevant here; the emphasis is on celebrating the fact that the Israeli army integrates men and women into combat units, which no one else does with such unflinching regularity. The article is a positive in that it underscored the value of female soldiers--I fail to see what is demeaning about the artiicle given that it couldn't be written about any other army, anywhere.

It seems like you have nothing else to do with your life? So they mentioned female, what's the problem?

According to the former head of Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Dr. Yuval Steinitz: For any foreseeable future I do not see... any possibility to leave Judea and Samaria or even part of it. [A] Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would bring about Israel's demise...Such a Palestinian state would ...immediately become an outpost for Iran. The only reason Kassam rockets [have] not been fired at the center of the country or at Ben-Gurion International Airport was because Israel [has] a military presence in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria-ed.)."

so i guess this proves it and this is how they do.good work congrats...

I'm waiting for the Rabbis to tell a female soldier to 'go to the back of the bus'. I'm also hoping a female soldier will stand her ground and make HIM go to the back of the bus! She works at protecting Israeli citizens, they don't!

What an excellent response to criticism of Israel's check-point policies!!!

Admittedly the Egged bus company runs some buses that serve the Mea Sharim area of Jerusalem and require women to sit at the back, but this is not the general situation throughout Israel. Women there can even drive (unlike thewomen of Saudi Arabia). Where in the world does Petra get such insane ideas?

According to condi's logic, not searching bags is the next confidence building measure.

The less the USA stays out of Israel's politics, the better. Bush and Condi Rice need to read the Bible and see what happens to people that try and be instrumental in giving away land that not only not theirs, it's not even Israels'. The land in Israel belongs to Jehovah God and Him only. I don't want to be with a 100 miles of Bush and Rice when they have to stand before the Lord and give account for their actions. I'm ashamed of our country's policies toward Israel. I love Israel and its people.