From a military perspective, the checkpoints are a crucial tool in the war
against terror, with troops catching Palestinians on a daily basis trying to
cross them carrying weapons or explosives.

Officials close to Barak admitted on Monday that the lifting of the
roadblock was accompanied by a number of security risks. But, they said, the
risks were "calculated."

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: The term "calculated risk" has been featured in
reports of the Oslo experiment from the very first day, but it should hardly
provide comfort.

Just because the risk has been "calculated" doesn't mean it is acceptable.

One can calculate the risk of jumping head first from the tenth floor of a
building. But that doesn't mean it is a good idea.]

Analysis: Taking calculated risks for Abbas
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 1, 2008
www.jpost.com
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At noon on Monday, IDF troops arrived at the Rimonim checkpoint near the
settlement of Kochav Hashahar and began taking it apart, piece by piece.
Less than five hours later, and a mere 15 kilometers away, a Palestinian was
shot dead after he tried to stab a group of hitchhikers outside the
settlement of Shilo.
Beyond serving as ammunition for the settlement movement in its campaign
against the goodwill gestures Defense Minister Ehud Barak offered the
Palestinians on Sunday, the sequence of events demonstrates the risks
involved in altering the tight security envelope the IDF has succeeded in
creating in the West Bank in recent years.

The removal of the Rimonim checkpoint - which connects Ramallah with
Jericho - on Monday has created a number of headaches for the IDF's Central
Command and its commander, Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni. From a military
perspective, the checkpoints are a crucial tool in the war against terror,
with troops catching Palestinians on a daily basis trying to cross them
carrying weapons or explosives.

Officials close to Barak admitted on Monday that the lifting of the
roadblock was accompanied by a number of security risks. But, they said, the
risks were "calculated."

As demonstrated by the 35-page report that Barak presented US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice with on Sunday, Israel's primary objective with the
gestures is to bolster PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his government in
Ramallah. This is being done in face of the growing Hamas threat in the West
Bank and the terror group's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.

Bolstering Abbas comes with a degree of danger. The lifting of 50 dirt
roadblocks, as well as the Rimonim Checkpoint, will allow Palestinians to
travel on roads they did not have access to in the past. Weapons smuggling
will most likely increase, and there is a fear in the IDF that
drive-by-shootings will as well.

"The Palestinian people in the West Bank only care about one thing, and that
is having a better quality of life," a top IDF general explained on Sunday
regarding the need for the gestures. "The hope is that once their lives
improve they will begin to appreciate Abbas more and Hamas less."

While this tactic has a chance at working, Israel's recent decision to
impose sanctions on the Gaza Strip has so far failed. According to the
general, the cuts to electricity, fuel and raw material supplies to Gaza
have not only failed to turn the people there against Hamas, but have
instead had the opposite effect, bringing about an increase in the people's
hatred for Israel.

This is where the gestures come into play. Israel does not require
intelligence briefings to take note of Hamas's growing presence in the West
Bank, not just militarily but mostly through the social services it provides
the people.

So the IDF is bringing government ministers to meet with their Palestinian
counterparts - to get them to create new joint initiatives, like the
establishment of a Palestinian National Insurance Institute, which will be
able to provide social services in the West Bank instead of Hamas's Dawa
institutions.

Fatah, a top Israeli defense official said Monday, is still perceived as
being corrupt in the eyes of the Palestinian public, and it is likely that
in the next elections Hamas would win again. For this reason, the chairman
of the Palestinian elections committee recently said during a meeting with
Israeli officials that his recommendation to Abbas was to stave off
elections for as long as possible.