News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Quartet envoy Tony Blair held a press conference on Tuesday night to announce a new series of Israeli “good-will gestures” to the Palestinian Authority. The “gestures” include the removal of four checkpoints and other significant changes in security procedures in Judea and Samaria.

According to Blair, Israel will remove the checkpoint at the “Sheep Junction” south of Hevron within a week. Checkpoints near Shavei Shomron, Mahola, and Halhul will be removed in the upcoming several weeks, and a checkpoint near Beit El will be moved to ease traffic to and from Ramallah. Soldiers will engage in less thorough searching of PA Arabs at eight checkpoints, including checkpoints near Jericho and Shechem, in order to allow traffic to pass through more quickly.

Israel also agreed to approve several projects in PA villages, grant 1,000 new work permits to Arabs from the Jenin region, and allow 300 businessmen from Jenin permission to enter pre-1967 Israel.