(Ha'aretz) Amos Harel - On Sunday it seemed as though the war in Ramallah had ended. When IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon's convoy traveled through the city, it elicited nothing but a big yawn. Not a single stone was thrown. Ya'alon could not conceal his amazement - at the relative order, at the cleanliness of the streets, at the spate of construction. It seems that Arafat's death absolved the city of its sense of obligation to the war effort. Tanzim militants, who used to periodically force the stores in Manara Square to shut down, have been forcibly expelled by the merchants. Similar scenes can be seen in the West Bank cities of Jericho, Kalkilya, and Bethlehem, where the volume of terrorist activity has dropped significantly. There has also been a change for the better in Hebron. However, Gaza continues to take a deadly toll on Israelis and Palestinians alike, and terrorists in Nablus continue to try to send suicide bombers into Israel.
2004-12-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive