Palestinians skeptical about peace plan

TheAssociatedPress

SURDA CHECKPOINT, West Bank -- In pain after chemotherapy, Hassan Hamai gripped the armrests of a wheelchair as medics pushed him over an earthen rampart at an Israeli military checkpoint, one of dozens of barriers crisscrossing the West Bank.

The roadblocks, most set up after the outbreak of fighting nearly three years ago to keep bombers and gunmen out of Israel, have disrupted every aspect of daily life and are one of the main points of friction in the conflict.

For many Palestinians, who have seen peace plans come and go, the removal of checkpoints -- a symbol of their humiliation and helplessness -- would be the first real sign of hope for the U.S.-backed "road map" to Palestinian statehood by 2005.

"After so many empty promises ... nothing has ever really changed for us on the ground," said Dina Anebtawi, a 19-year-old architecture student who has to cross six checkpoints a day between home and school.

Under the peace plan, Israel must ease restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in tandem with the dismantling of militant groups by Palestinian security forces.

However, Israel is reluctant to remove the checkpoints until Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas acts against the militants. Abbas is trying to negotiate with the armed groups to halt attacks, rather than disarm them.

With the argument unresolved, the checkpoints remain.

Among the most difficult to cross is the Surda barrier, which blocks a main road connecting about 40 villages with the town of Ramallah, the West Bank's financial and administrative center.

Army bulldozers have piled two mounds of earth across the road, with a no man's land of one mile in between.

Cars and ambulances cannot drive in one stretch from Ramallah to the outlying villages, or back. Instead, travelers take a taxi to the first six-foot-high mound, climb over it, walk for about a mile, climb over the next one, then catch another taxi.

In the summer, the checkpoint is hot and dusty, making the hike up and down hills a challenge even for the young and healthy.

Medics from Palestinian volunteer groups wait with wheelchairs for the elderly and sick, including cancer, heart and kidney dialysis patients who make the trip several times a week. Some medics say they traverse the checkpoint 60 times a day.

Making the arduous journey recently was Hamai, the 53-year-old cancer patient who had chemotherapy in a Ramallah hospital.

Hamai's limp body bounced in a wheelchair as he was pushed over rocks and gravel. Squinting as dust flew in his face, he said the trip home was always more difficult because he was weak after chemotherapy. "This is no way to live," he said.

Palestinian boys offer to transport people and cargo in pushcarts. At Surda, three little girls rode on a cart, while their parents walked alongside. Others cross in horse carriages or on foot, shielding their faces with books and papers against the dust and sun.

Soldiers are not always deployed to check those passing, raising questions about the security purpose of the barrier.

Tom Kay, a British architect who crosses Surda daily to teach at Bir Zeit University and keeps a "roadblock journal," said he has repeatedly seen young soldiers abusing Palestinians, including beating them and ramming jeeps into parked taxis.

"This checkpoint has nothing to do with stopping suicide bombers. It's purely for the humiliation of the Palestinian people," he said.

The Israeli military had no comment on the abuse allegations.

In principle, Israel says, checkpoints are vital to security and can only be removed once attacks stop. And soldiers at roadblocks have themselves been the targets of attacks, adding to the tense atmosphere.

In talks on an Israeli troop pullback in Gaza -- also part of the road map -- the key dispute is over checkpoints along the main north-south road where Palestinian motorists are often held up for hours on each trip. Israel says the checkpoints are needed to protect Jewish settlers against shooting ambushes.

"Checkpoints were put there because of the security threats," said Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "If Palestinians are willing and capable to stop terror...I would say a great number of the checkpoints will become redundant and eventually removed."

The checkpoints have heightened resentment against Israel and are seen as a major contributor to continued strong support among Palestinians for suicide bombings and other attacks.

Ali Jarbawi, a political scientist at Bir Zeit, said support for Hamas and other militant groups would drop if the checkpoints were removed. "They would face pressure not to carry out attacks," he said.

Palestinians and Israeli peace activists say the checkpoints have been ineffective in stopping Palestinian militants, noting that bombers and gunmen, who have killed hundreds of Israelis in the past 33 months, have found alternate routes into Israel.

Instead, the barriers have choked the Palestinian economy, with 50 percent of Palestinians now living below the poverty line, said Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. Mideast envoy.

Beyond that, he said, "there is a whole other dimension which is actually of greater importance, and that is the issue of dignity and identity."