The removal of the barriers was part of a package of measures agreed Sunday at a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, and Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad.
The barriers, mainly ditches and dirt mounds, are designed to prevent vehicles from moving freely between the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Kalkiliya and Ramallah. Over 500 barriers will remain on roads linking Palestinian settlements in the West Bank, including unmanned trenches, earth mounds and border checkpoints manned by dozens of troops.
Israeli authorities say they consider the roadblocks, which hinder the free movement of people and goods, one of the most effective means of fighting terrorism, while Palestinians say they are one of the main obstacles to economic development in the region.
The package of measures proposed by Israel includes increasing the effectiveness of the remaining roadblocks, allowing more Palestinian traders and businessmen into Israel and issuing an additional 5,000 work permits to Palestinian construction workers.
Israel has also agreed to extend the powers of Palestinian law enforcement bodies in maintaining order in the West Bank. Barak, in particular, sanctioned the deployment in Jenin of 700 police officers currently undergoing training in Jordan, and approved the handover of a number of vehicles, including 25 armored trucks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party controls the West Bank after being ousted by rival Islamic group Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and some EU states, from the Gaza Strip in a bloody conflict last June.
Fatah receives financial assistance from the West, while Gaza is fully isolated and boycotted by the PNA, the U.S. and Israel. Hamas has called for reconciliation, but refused to back down on demands to give up control of Gaza.
A Mideast peace conference was held in the U.S. in Annapolis, Maryland last year. Palestinian-Israeli violence has continued unabated since the conference however, and more than 300 people have been killed in clashes since the November talks.
