"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

Israel urged to ease Palestine controls

The Palestinian prime minister said he failed to win assurances from Israel's defense minister Thursday that he'll ease stifling restrictions on Palestinian movement-a measure seen as key to the success of an ambitious international effort to revive the Palestinian economy.The World Bank warned that unless Israel removes some of the physical and administrative obstacles to Palestinian travel and trade, donor countries asked to pledge $5.6 billion at a conference in Paris next week may be wasting their money.Even if the donors pay the full amount, the Palestinian economy would keep shrinking by about 2 percent a year as long as the Israeli restrictions remain in place, the World Bank wrote in a report Thursday.Israel's military has been reluctant to remove some of the hundreds of roadblocks and barriers in the West Bank, saying they're an effective tool against Palestinian militants, and that the Palestinian government does not have sufficient control over the territory to prevent attacks on Israelis.The issue of roadblocks was raised Thursday in a meeting between international Mideast envoy Tony Blair, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Asked whether he won any Israeli guarantees of easing restrictions, Fayyad said:"It's a one-word answer-no."However, Blair's presence made it clear that the international community has a "huge stake in all of this," Fayyad said."Donors are being asked to fund the Palestinian Authority whose funding needs are at least in part caused by these (Israeli) restrictions," he said. "Clearly, the trade- off is there for everyone to see."Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said his government supports the donors' efforts and has an interest in seeing the Palestinian economy recover. Israel is willing to move on the issue of roadblocks, he said, but gave no specifics.In violence Thursday, a rocket fired by Gaza militants hit a house in the Israeli border town of Sderot and seriously injured an Israeli woman. The rocket smashed through the roof, and Israeli TV showed medics carrying a woman out of the house on a stretcher.Palestinian militants fire crude rockets almost daily at southern Israeli border communities, but the inaccurate projectiles rarely cause casualties or damage. However, they disrupt daily life there, and Israel has been indicating strongly that it will launch a large-scale ground attack in Gaza to try to stop the barrages.The incoming U.N. Mideast envoy, Robert Serry, denounced the rocket attack in unusually strong terms. "Let me be clear about this: We consider that to be terrorist acts," he said.A few hours later, Israeli aircraft blew up a car in Gaza City, killing three militants, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said the target was a Palestinian cell that fired rockets at Israel earlier.Ahead of Monday's pledging conference, Israel was coming under heavy pressure to show flexibility on the restrictions issue....
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