The strong IDF measures - specifically, the encirclement of Ramallah and neighboring villages, as well as other areas - are the big news today. Druze Minister Salah Tarif and Minister Matan Vilnai, both of Labor, said that the government must not impose collective punishment. The Israeli media, too, waged a heavy campaign against it; radio television stations interviewed many residents of the affected areas and asked them about their suffering (see below). The Central Command reported this morning that a terrorist cell was caught yesterday on its way to carrying out an attack, thanks to the stronger measures. Specifically, warnings were received of a car-bomb on its way from the Ramallah region towards Jerusalem, and several of the terrorists involved have already been arrested.
The Prime Minister\'s Media Advisor stated this morning, \"Prime Minister Sharon’s policy is to ease sanctions everywhere, but to act against localities from which terrorist activity is to be perpetrated. This is part of his policy of foiling attacks and combating both the attackers and those who dispatch them.\"
The Yesha Council congratulated the government on its new policy. Council Secretary Shlomo Filber said, \"This is what the army should have done in the very first week of the killing, and many lives would have been saved.\"
Arutz-7\'s Kobi Sela noted that the closures are particularly effective this time, as evidenced by the strong demonstrations against them. Palestinian riots outside the village of Surda, north of Ramallah, have led to one Palestinian dead and five wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers. The Arabs attempted to fill in the trenches dug nearby by the army. \"The villages are hermetically sealed, and only food and medicines are allowed in and out,\" Sela reported. \"Even people on foot are not allowed out in some cases, while sometimes traffic in allowed into the villages but not out.\"
Much of the Israeli media has enlisted in the effort to bad-mouth the closure. Popular Voice of Israel talk show-host Dalia Ya\'iri interviewed this morning a \"typical\" Arab suffering from the closure - but was surprised to learn what \"typical\" really means:
Q: How long does it usually take you to get to work?
A: About 25 minutes [from Anata to Ramallah].
Q. And now, you can barely get there at all?
A. Yesterday, it took me 3 and 1/4 hours…
Q. What is your line of work?
A. I work for the PLO.
(silence)
Q. A Tanzim activist?
A. Yes.
Q. Ah-ha…
Yesha Council Yehoshua Mor-Yosef sent a fax to Voice of Israel this morning in response to the one-sided coverage. Read aloud on the air, it stated as follows (courtesy of IMRA):
\"To provide your listeners with a complete picture of what is going on in Yesha, it would have been appropriate to broadcast interviews with residents from Negohot [south of Hevron], a community from which for the past half-year the residents have been forced to drive several hours to reach work, instead of the quarter-hour required before Arafat decided to fight Israel. The residents of the Dolev-Talmonim bloc of communities west of Ramallah have to circle halfway around the country in order to reach their jobs in Jerusalem just because Arafat\'s representatives have decided to murder Jews.
\"With all the pain and understanding for the suffering of the Arabs of Ramallah, all one has to do is to watch the funerals carried out there from time to time for \'shahid\' [martyr] terrorists in order to see that those same \'innocent\' masses choking under closure are also those who chant the slogan, \'With blood and fire we will redeem Palestine.\'\"
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer announced late this afternoon that the closure would be removed from the towns of Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Kalkilye, and Hevron. The encirclement of Ramallah would remain in full force, at least until tomorrow.
Arab MK Issam Mahoul said that placing 200,000 Arabs in Hevron under siege in order to allow \"a handful of settlers to celebrate [Purim] is illogical and reminiscent of the Nazis.\" Mahoul also compared the encirclement of Ramallah to Nazi-tactics. Shinui MK Modi Zandberg said that Mahoul\'s statements are \"incitement against the State of Israel, that cast doubt over Mahoul\'s eligibility to be a part of Israel\'s Knesset.\" A Hevron spokesman explained, however, that \"lions have to be put in cages, and people who act like lions and attack other people have to be contained and restrained, in order to allow others to live.\"
The Prime Minister\'s Media Advisor stated this morning, \"Prime Minister Sharon’s policy is to ease sanctions everywhere, but to act against localities from which terrorist activity is to be perpetrated. This is part of his policy of foiling attacks and combating both the attackers and those who dispatch them.\"
The Yesha Council congratulated the government on its new policy. Council Secretary Shlomo Filber said, \"This is what the army should have done in the very first week of the killing, and many lives would have been saved.\"
Arutz-7\'s Kobi Sela noted that the closures are particularly effective this time, as evidenced by the strong demonstrations against them. Palestinian riots outside the village of Surda, north of Ramallah, have led to one Palestinian dead and five wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers. The Arabs attempted to fill in the trenches dug nearby by the army. \"The villages are hermetically sealed, and only food and medicines are allowed in and out,\" Sela reported. \"Even people on foot are not allowed out in some cases, while sometimes traffic in allowed into the villages but not out.\"
Much of the Israeli media has enlisted in the effort to bad-mouth the closure. Popular Voice of Israel talk show-host Dalia Ya\'iri interviewed this morning a \"typical\" Arab suffering from the closure - but was surprised to learn what \"typical\" really means:
Q: How long does it usually take you to get to work?
A: About 25 minutes [from Anata to Ramallah].
Q. And now, you can barely get there at all?
A. Yesterday, it took me 3 and 1/4 hours…
Q. What is your line of work?
A. I work for the PLO.
(silence)
Q. A Tanzim activist?
A. Yes.
Q. Ah-ha…
Yesha Council Yehoshua Mor-Yosef sent a fax to Voice of Israel this morning in response to the one-sided coverage. Read aloud on the air, it stated as follows (courtesy of IMRA):
\"To provide your listeners with a complete picture of what is going on in Yesha, it would have been appropriate to broadcast interviews with residents from Negohot [south of Hevron], a community from which for the past half-year the residents have been forced to drive several hours to reach work, instead of the quarter-hour required before Arafat decided to fight Israel. The residents of the Dolev-Talmonim bloc of communities west of Ramallah have to circle halfway around the country in order to reach their jobs in Jerusalem just because Arafat\'s representatives have decided to murder Jews.
\"With all the pain and understanding for the suffering of the Arabs of Ramallah, all one has to do is to watch the funerals carried out there from time to time for \'shahid\' [martyr] terrorists in order to see that those same \'innocent\' masses choking under closure are also those who chant the slogan, \'With blood and fire we will redeem Palestine.\'\"
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer announced late this afternoon that the closure would be removed from the towns of Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Kalkilye, and Hevron. The encirclement of Ramallah would remain in full force, at least until tomorrow.
Arab MK Issam Mahoul said that placing 200,000 Arabs in Hevron under siege in order to allow \"a handful of settlers to celebrate [Purim] is illogical and reminiscent of the Nazis.\" Mahoul also compared the encirclement of Ramallah to Nazi-tactics. Shinui MK Modi Zandberg said that Mahoul\'s statements are \"incitement against the State of Israel, that cast doubt over Mahoul\'s eligibility to be a part of Israel\'s Knesset.\" A Hevron spokesman explained, however, that \"lions have to be put in cages, and people who act like lions and attack other people have to be contained and restrained, in order to allow others to live.\"