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The Media Line: In recent years hundreds of Israelis have been killed; the victims of terrorism. But that’s left something of a dilemma for the Israeli government: on the one hand, and of course paramount, is the protection of Israeli civilians; on the other is the question of what to do with Palestinian civilians. How to allow them the full movement to go from their jobs to home, to visit friends and family in other cities, whilst not risking the lives of the Israelis. Over the next few moments we’re going to look at various methods that’ve been adopted; from the chicken-wire fencing, through the wall that surrounds Jerusalem and on to human surveillance. Palestinians have long raised the issue of checkpoints as being an impediment to peace. Riad Al-Malki, Palestinian Information Minister: Of course everybody knows the realities on the ground that there are more than 500 to 600 checkpoints. If these are going to be an impediment for development then of course we cannot do anything. The Media Line: There’s disagreement between Palestinians and rights organizations on the one hand and Israel on the other as to the numbers of checkpoints operated in the West Bank. Maj. Avital Leibovich, Israel Defense Forces: Now usually the humanitarian, human-rights organizations count the checkpoints in the method of hundreds because they count the temporary roadblocks as a permanent checkpoint, which means the majority of the checkpoints are really temporary. If we put a temporary roadblock because we have intelligence information that from a specific village will come a suicide bomber they count it as a permanent checkpoint and there are hundreds like this. A temporary roadblock can be something from within a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. The Media Line: Palestinians say that not only are there too many checkpoints dotted around the West Bank, but that they have to wait far too long to pass from one side to the other. Maj. Avital Leibovich, Israel Defense Forces: We actually, we know exactly the rush hours of Palestinian traffic; this is something from 4 o’clock in the morning to 7 o’clock in the morning. So in these specific hours we actually put more manpower at the crossings in order for them to wait as less time as possible. That’s why we don’t see those sights that there were a few years ago when we just opened the crossings. We have professionalized the system now so Palestinians usually don’t have to wait more than a minutes in a line – unless there’s some kind of an alert and in this case you know our lives are in front of anything else and we do have to check thoroughly each vehicle and each permit. Azzam Shawwa, General-Manager, Al-Quds Bank for Development & Investment: Today and yesterday, the checkpoints they were very smooth that you feel that life is much easier. But they keep asking this question to people like myself who are living in this area: ‘is it going to be like this tomorrow?’ So, this is a very big question and I think it has to be answered from the Israeli government or from the minister of defense. The Media Line: The Israel Defense Forces has developed a series of methods aimed at easing the restrictions on Palestinian civilians from magnetic cards that allow a swift passage through checkpoints to new roads constructed by Israel to let Palestinians move from one town to another without having to pass through roadblocks at all. At the same time Israeli security remains paramount. Security at the checkpoints is tight, while multi-layered surveillance and fencing runs pretty much the length of the West Bank and will be completed in the next year or so. The Palestinians still accuse Israel of doing precious little about removing the roadblocks. Meanwhile, Israel’s military says it’s doing what it has to in order to protect Israeli civilians; at the same time, trying to guarantee the free flow of Palestinian pedestrians and traffic. This is David Harris for The media Line in the West Bank.