61. The woman was identified as Amna Mona Jawad, an East Jerusalem resident who had been living recently in a Palestinian town north of Jerusalem. 62. This allows the government to block plans that take settlements provocatively close to Palestinian towns or other sensitive areas. 63. This Palestinian farming town is tired of waiting for peace. 64. Tight Israeli blockades were thrown around the Palestinian towns of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Qalqilya, all in the West Bank. 65. Today, many Bedouin are frightened that each generation will be displaced anew, pushed off the land to make way for an expanding Israeli settlement or Palestinian town. 66. Together with other Palestinian towns outside Jerusalem, it would be packaged as a kind of alternative to Jerusalem. 67. Under the post-Oslo agreements, Israeli forces have withdrawn from only seven Palestinian towns in the West Bank. 68. Under Sharon, Israeli army columns began reacting to suicide bombings and other acts of violence with armored assaults into Palestinian towns. 69. Violent conflict has always been rarer in Jericho than in other Palestinian towns. 70. Unlike women in other Palestinian towns, most here cover their hair with scarves and wear long, loose robes in accordance with the Islamic custom. |