Date:01/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/01/stories/2008040155781300.htm

International

Israel to remove 50 roadblocks

Toni O’Loughlin

Jerusalem: Israel made a modest attempt to ease myriad restrictions on West Bank Palestinians on Sunday, pledging to remove 50 roadblocks and to upgrade checkpoints to reduce waiting time.

The measures won praise from the U.S., which had previously criticised Israel for failing to do enough to ease the burden of the 580 roadblocks, dirt mounds and checkpoints that stop Palestinians moving within the West Bank. “It’s a very good start,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on her latest visit to the region to push the Annapolis peace talks along ahead of President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel in May. — ©Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008