The Israeli army began Tuesday easing the siege on the West Bank city of Ramallah, allowing the movement of commercial vehicles in and out of the city. Meanwhile, Palestinians denounced easing the siege as “cosmetic,” branding Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policy towards the Palestinians as "cruel and inhumane."
Israeli army officials told Haaretz newspaper that the strict control over vehicles entering and leaving Ramallah would continue as long as there were warnings of “terror attacks emanating from the city.”
As a result, there were long lines of cars at army checkposts, said the paper.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo was quoted by AFP as telling reporters that "easing the siege is a cosmetic arrangement.”
“They are trying to tell the world that the siege has been lifted, which is not true," he said.
"In reality, Sharon's policy is cruel, inhumane and specifically designated to provoke, not end, further violence. We will not allow Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to starve and suffocate our people," he added.
The punishing blockade, imposed by the army to try to contain a deadly Palestinian revolt that erupted in late September, has devastated the economy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"We will not yield to Israel's policies. Simply occupation must end. It's not only about blocking roads, they should leave all our areas," Abed Rabbo said.
Meanwhile, Abed Rabbo said that Israel’s claims that the army had "lifted" a closure on several West Bank towns were false, according to AFP.
The Israeli army announced that a blockade on Tulkarm, Hebron, Bethlehem and Qalqilya has been lifted.
But resident told Haaretz that most of the barricades around the cities were still in place.
The decision to lift the blockade of the four cities was taken Monday afternoon by Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer against the backdrop of stiff international criticism of Israel's actions and differences of opinion within the security establishment over the siege on Ramallah, said the paper.
Within the same context, AFP said that Sharon is due to meet later in the day with Swedish Foreign Minster Anna Lindh, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency to pressure on Israel to lift the siege on the Palestinian territories.
Lindh said Monday after meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Gaza that she would raise the situation at a meeting with Sharon.
Lindh and EU external affairs commissioner Chris Patten are due to meet with Sharon, as well as Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, said the agency.
Peres, according to Haaretz, voiced his opposition Monday to "collective punishment" against the Palestinians.
The closure has devastated the Palestinian economy, with losses estimated by the United Nations at 11 million dollars a day. Thousands of people have been thrown out of work, and one million are living below the poverty line.
For its part, the United States renewed its appeal to Israel to ease economic pressure on Palestinians by releasing withheld tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority, said the paper.
"We are looking to the Israeli side to ease the economic pressure, including turning over the tax revenues and easing some of the restrictions on movement," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"We'll continue to be concerned about the situation as we look to steps that they can take to, as I said, end the violence, break out of the cycle of violence, as well as ease some of the economic plight of the Palestinians who are in dire straits these days," Boucher said – Albawaba.com
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