News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair told a news conference Tuesday that Israel has agreed to ease travel restrictions on Arabs in Judea and Samaria. Military sources told Reuters News Agency that the changes would be made only "in the future," but Defense Minister Ehud Barak previously has said that he wound not remove roadblocks and checkpoint if doing so would endanger the security of Israelis.

Blair singled out a key roadblock near Hevron, known as the "sheep junction" that leads to the nearby city of Yatta. Jewish residents in the southern Hevron Hills have been holding daily pray rallies at the junction to protest re-opening the intersection, where terrorists previously have carried out dozens of attacks. The government originally announced it would take down the barrier the after Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day), but it still remains.

The Quartet envoy also said three other barriers would be removed or re-located "once Israel determines the security situation so allows."