Barak considering easing restrictions on Palestinians
Ahead of US Secretary of State Rice's visit to Israel, defense minister weighing series of gestures to PA, including removal of at least one roadblock, VIP route for Palestinian businesspeople
The possible gestures include the removal of at least one roadblock in the West Bank, a VIP route, a roadblock-bypass in the West Bank for Palestinian businesspeople, and a joint industrial zone in the village of Tarqumiya in eastern Hebron.
"We must exert efforts in improving the Palestinian's quality of life, subject to Israel's security considerations," Barak clarified in closed discusses over the weekend, in which possible gestures were examined on the backdrop of Rice's implied public criticism against Israel due to the Jewish state's failure to meet its commitments stated in the Road Map plan.
The secretary of state recently expressed her discontent with Israel and the Palestinian Authority's failure to meet the commitments of the Road Map's first stage.
According to stage one of the plan, Israel was required to completely freeze construction works in the settlements, evacuate the outposts built since March 2001, refrain from attacking Palestinian civilians and reopen the Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians were required to reorganize the PA's security forces, act openly against those responsible for terror attacks on Israelis and work to dismantle terror infrastructures.
Gestures pending PM's approval
The American criticism is mainly directed at Barak, whose demands in regards to security issues prevent easing restrictions on the Palestinians. Rice also criticized the approval of 546 housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev and the plan to build some 2,000 housing units in the West Bank.
The gestures examined by the defense minister will be brought to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's approval and will also be presented to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Should they be approved, they will be presented to Fayyad on Wednesday and to Rice upon her arrival in the region.
As for the evacuation of outposts, the dialogue between the Defense Ministry and the settlers continues, but final understandings have yet to be reached.
Ynet recently reported that an agreement in principle had been reached in regards to the evacuation and relocation of 18 illegal outposts in exchange for expanding the settlement blocs in the territories.
