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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/23/AR2010082304204.html
Mideast Peace Talks to Look Forward To?
(Washington Post) David Makovsky - Progress on security and other issues suggests there is reason to believe peace talks can produce results. During the Gaza conflict of 2008-09, the PA kept the West Bank calm. Because of the improved security, Israel has reduced the number of major manned checkpoints in the West Bank from 42 in 2008 to 14. The checkpoints that remain include more passage lanes, resulting in substantially reduced wait times. And the improved security and other efforts by reformist Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have resulted in a West Bank economic growth rate of 8.5%. Religious and education reforms have started, including a major effort to identify and remove those imams who agitate for suicide bombings. Screening is also being conducted to weed out schoolteachers who support Hamas radicalism. PA security officials say 1,100 Palestinian teachers in the West Bank have been replaced. The writer directs the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.