"How to ease more restrictions for the civilian population of the Palestinian Authority." This was one of the main issues discussed at today's diplomatic steering committee meeting, and operative recommendations were then set before the weekly Cabinet meeting. American sources say that US Ambassador Kurtzer sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Office criticizing Israel for not fulfilling its promise to improve living conditions in the PA. Gen. Amos Gilad, IDF Coordinator of Activities in Yesha, told Israel Radio today that the situation cannot be divorced from the continuing terrorism, and "as long as the terror continues, the IDF and security forces will have to continue to take security measures that will involve harm to citizens. Efforts will be made, however, to minimize these as much as possible, [in accordance with] ethical and diplomatic values."



Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer briefed the Cabinet on the latest attempted terrorist attacks as well as the security forces’ counter-terrorist actions. He emphasized that the attempted attacks underscore the daily dilemma Israel faces as it "navigates between its security needs and the needs of the Palestinian population that is not involved in terror and is being hurt by the situation on the ground." Ben-Eliezer said that while Israel has no desire to hold large Palestinian populations in continual curfews, "when we lifted the curfews, terrorists exploited this in order to perpetrate attacks against Israeli citizens."



Gen. Gilad participated in the Cabinet meeting and told the ministers of the restriction-easings that have been carried out. He said that every effort to ease restrictions without the Palestinian Authority taking responsibility is doomed to failure - but at the same time noted that the strong hatred among the Arabs of Yesha for the PA is growing.