UN: Israel removes 20 percent of checkpoints but limits Palestinian access to some lands
By APWednesday, June 16, 2010
UN: Israel dismantles some West Bank checkpoints
JERUSALEM — A senior U.N. official says Israel has dismantled 20 percent of its West Bank checkpoints in the past year.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. humanitarian affairs office in Jerusalem, says Israel has removed 121 checkpoints, easing Palestinian movement between villages and towns, but 505 checkpoints and dozens of road obstacles still hinder travel.
Israel has said it has removed dozens of roadblocks.
Lazzarini said Wednesday that Israeli officials were also limiting Palestinian access to lands in the Jordan River valley and to farmlands cut off by Israel’s separation barrier that juts into parts of the West Bank.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek the territory as a part of their future state.
