By Stan Goodenough
Jul 30, 2007
Late Monday afternoon, IDF soldiers stopped a "Palestinian" car carrying explosives near Bethlehem, just outside Jerusalem.
Ealrier, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had ordered his officials to compile a list of IDF-erected barriers and other security restrictions in Samaria and Judea (the "West Bank") that can be removed to ease the travel of Arabs between PA-controlled towns.
The restrictions have been put in place to hamper untold numbers of Jew-hating terrorists from attacking Israelis.
Removing these safety-measures is just the latest in a growing list of US-directed undertakings by Olmert to bolster Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas against a Hamas effort to overthrow him.
Last week Olmert said his government had "started very seriously to talk with Mr. Abbas on a peace process and questions that can allow a Palestinian state to be established."
The discussions would continue "at the pace we have agreed upon, and we are in agreement for them to continue until they bear concrete results," he added.
A growing number of analysts expect the concessions to blow up in Israel's face, leading to more attacks and casualties and the ultimate expansion of "Hamastan" from Gaza into the "West Bank."