TITLE: West Bank Road, From Lifeline to Battleground

AUTHOR: Gillian Findlay

PUB: ABC News

DATE: March 10, 2001

Citing security concerns, the Israeli Army has bulldozed a key road connecting disparate West Bank towns and villages, outraging local residents. For years, the Ramallah-Beirzeit road has been a Palestinian lifeline. The only road heading north from the West Bank's biggest city, the only road connecting 33 Palestinian towns and villages. Now the road is just rubble. The Israeli Army has cut the road in three places, and now to get anywhere - to their jobs, classrooms and markets - Palestinians must walk and climb and walk still further."I think it's degrading. That's exactly what I think," exclaims 69-year-old Nabeeha Atullah, who says she is on her way to a doctor's appointment. With Israeli tanks watching every move of those making the journey, she feels it is dangerous, too."They might shoot, they might kill, they might stop you. It's like walking in total insecurity and total fear." Israel Says Attacks Prompted Road's Destruction Israel's army says destroying the road was necessary because Palestinian gunmen have recently been using this road to approach Jewish settlements and carry out attacks.The army admits it could have put a checkpoint to deter the gunmen, but instead it sent bulldozers.At a clinic that serves as the sole medical facility for 200,000 people, doctors used to send emergency cases to the hospital in Ramallah. Now, however, ambulances cannot traverse the broken road."All we can do is first aid," says one clinic worker. Soon, the broken road could affect food supplies. Jad Abu Nasser says 70 percent of the items in his grocery store are transported on the Ramallah-Beirzeit road. "There is no solution here," he says. "Either we have piece or we have war. If the Israelis keep doing this, it will be war. "Protests along the road have begun, and now Israeli soldiers fight daily battles with stone-throwers, making the road that was a lifeline a very dangerous place instead. END top