Barak: West Bank roadblocks are effective, will remain in place

Haaretz 09:10 02/01/2008

By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press

West Bank roadblocks have proven themselves in preventing terror attacks against Israel and will not be removed, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday during a visit to an Israel Defense Forces post in the northern West Bank. "The method of roadblocks has proven itself," Barak told a group of IDF soldiers from the Golani Brigade. "There is no way to effectively fight terrorism without actual daily control of the area." The defense minister added, however, that Israel was making an attempt to alleviate the Palestinians' plight.

"We are trying to make life easier for the Palestinians by opening roadblocks on the outskirts," he said. "We have recently opened dozens of dirt blockings and removed two of the 16 major roadblocks. We may do a few other things to ease the Palestinians' lives." The defense minister also spoke about recent Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, including Friday's attack on two soldiers from Kiryat Arba who were spending their leave hiking in the Hebron Hills. "Our main target is Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine," he said. "There are too many terrorists, and too much desire to carry out attacks in the area, and without intelligence and field control, we'll witness more attacks such as the ones were Zuldan, Amihai, and Rubin were killed." Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Barak's comments were "very unfortunate." "I don't think we can do anything about the economy ot improvement of life or revival of institution-building as long as the roadblocks remain," Erekat said.