Ex-Israeli generals denounce checkpoints

Ex-Israeli Generals denounce checkpoints

Retired Israeli Generals Say West Bank Checkpoints Can Be Lifted

A group of retired Israeli generals has launched a campaign urging the army to remove West Bank roadblocks, warning on Wednesday that the travel restrictions sow Palestinian hatred of Israel and stymie the peace process.

The 12 top former commanders say the hundreds of checkpoints dotting the West Bank are excessive and other military means can be used to prevent suicide bombings in Israel.

The Palestinians have long demanded that Israel remove the roadblocks as a way to build faith in recently renewed peace talks.
The generals have written a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak in an effort to persuade him to gradually remove the checkpoints, which severely restrict movement of the some 2 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and have crippled their economy. Israel maintains the checkpoints are vital for its security.

"You have to understand that there is damage in having the Palestinian people with its back to the wall, not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, unable to improve their economy, unable to move from place to place," Ilan Paz, a signatory of the letter and a former head of the army's administration of Palestinian civilian affairs, told Israel Radio. "This creates a reality that creates terror, and we have to remember that."
Barak, currently on a visit to Turkey, was not immediately available for comment, and the Israeli army declined to comment.

The retired commanders hope to persuade defense officials to make a gesture to the Palestinians and thus give Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a free hand in peace talks, said Shlomo Brom, another signatory and a former chief of the army's planning division.

The removal of the checkpoints is a key issue in the U.S-backed negotiations now under way between the sides, who have said they aim to reach a final peace agreement this year. The talks were renewed after a high-profile peace meeting in November in Annapolis, Md., sponsored by President Bush.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians are seeking an independent state in those territories.

"The feeling of humiliation and the hate the roadblocks create increase the tendency of Palestinians to join militant groups and Hamas," Brom said. "I think that this can help the peace process. Of course the goal is to help the ... plans of Olmert in striving for a peace agreement."
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The 12 former generals who signed the letter include retired chiefs of army branches that oversee the civil affairs of Palestinians in occupied areas and the former commander of the Hebron area. Other signatories include a former police commissioner and two former directors of Israel's Foreign Ministry.
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Source: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=44247
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Ex-Israeli generals denounce checkpoints

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Ex-Israeli generals denounce checkpoints

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