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Palestinians cheer as Israel removes checkpoint
ReutersRAMALLAH, West Bank, July 27 â Palestinians cheered and sounded car horns in noisy celebration on Sunday as an Israeli army bulldozer tore down a key West Bank checkpoint and opened a road leading to dozens of villages. Per the "roadmap" Israeli continues in good faith, alone... BTW, any ululating? Palestinian traffic flowed freely through the Surda checkpoint north of the city of Ramallah for the first time since the army erected the roadblock a few months after the Palestinian uprising for independence began in September 2000. Itâs been a long time since you asshats could be trusted to walk down the street without blowing up. One woman ululated as the bulldozer removed cement blocks in a gesture intended to show Israelâs commitment to a U.S.-backed peace "road map" backed by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen. Ah, there it is. Of course she did. "May God protect you, Abu Mazen. May God bring about peace," the woman, Um Ali, said as she travelled along the dusty road carrying a baby and holding her toddlerâs hand. Uh oh, a baby factory, er, I mean a good Muslim woman... Other women and men chanted in praise of Abbas, who met U.S. President George Bush in the White House on Friday. Mahmoud Abbas, now gaining in popularity, leads his chief rival and alter ego Abu Mazen, in the latest Pal schizophrenia polls - at least the ones that donât get trashed cuz they donât reflect the official Al Aqsa party line. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to meet Bush on Tuesday in Washington to discuss the peace plan. Pssst, Sharon! The fence! Tell Dubya to piss off about the fence! The Surda checkpoint was one of many erected across the West Bank by Israel, which says such roadblocks are needed to prevent attacks on Israelis. Palestinians say they are a collective punishment and that they fuel anger and resentment. Think itâs anything like the pain and anguish of Israeli families whoâve had members killed by suicide bombers? Palestinian officials estimate that 90,000 people cross the Surda checkpoint each day on their way to or from Ramallah, the Palestiniansâ main commercial and political hub just north of Jerusalem. They said it had cut off about 150 villages. 90,000? The Israeli soldiers will be happier to see it go than the Pals. Until now, people had to park their cars near the checkpoint and take a more than one kilometre (mile) detour around it to get to the other side. Some Palestinians did a busy trade ferrying people on horse-pulled carts. Ah, Arab ingenuity at its finest. Palestinian bulldozers tried to pull the checkpoint down before the Israeli bulldozer started work, but Israeli soldiers stopped them and took over the task as planned minutes later. Wait for it... wait for it... Okay, go! "I hope this is the end of one of the harsh measures taken by the Israeli authorities," said Hanna Naser, President of Bir Zeit University, which had been cut off by the roadblock. Harsh measures... In response to, uh, bad breath? Poor manners? Slight differences between Halal and Kosher methods? Gosh, what could it have been? One man, 41-year-old Marzouk Marzouk, said: "I doubt the sincerity of the Israelis. Now they remove the checkpoint. After two months they will put it back in place again." Two months? You got some inside info from Hamas, Marzouk? Ramallah governor Mustafa Liftawi urged Israel to remove 10 other checkpoints around Ramallah. Yitzhak Deri, deputy head of the nearby Israeli civilian and military liaison office, said more checkpoints would be lifted if calm prevails. One step at a time. You guys need to learn some self control, ya know? If you donât fuck up and accidentally strap on a suicide belt and accidentally fall onto an Israeli and accidentally blow yourself up, then weâll talk... Posted by: PD 2003-07-27 |
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