Debate over West Bank future

By Martin Patience
BBC News, Jerusalem

The barrier has cut into Palestinian territory

One of the most crucial factors in a possible Israeli Palestinian peace agreement is what area a future Palestinian state will encompass.

Much of the talk is about Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to withdraw from some of its Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law - although Israel disputes this.

Most Palestinians see the entire West Bank including East Jerusalem (which was annexed by Israel) and the Gaza Strip as the basis for their future state.

But Israel is currently building the 703 km West Bank barrier that will place 8% of the West Bank on the Israeli side of the structure. Israel says the barrier is to prevent suicide bombers from launching attacks on Israeli citizens.

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also said that Israel will retain control of the Jordan Valley as a security buffer. Again, this is land that Palestinians see as the basis for a future state.

Travel 'worsened'

But in the West Bank, there are increasing signs that Israel is cutting the territory into three major sections rising Palestinian fears that the West Bank will become a series of cantons and therefore not a viable, contiguous state.

According to the UN report from the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israel has recently implemented a series of roadblocks, checkpoints and a system of permits to carry out this policy.

Palestinian views on curbs

The report says that travel in the West Bank has "significantly worsened" in the last nine months.

"The big thing is that people can't go about their normal daily lives such as going to schools and hospitals," says David Shearer, head of the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs.

"It's got increasingly difficult for vaccination teams to reach villages."

'Disintegration'

For some Palestinians the UN claims that Israel is cutting up the West Bank amounts to creating facts on the ground that they fear will pass largely unnoticed.

The former Palestinian Minister of Planning Ghassan Khattib says Israel is trying to "pre-empt the Palestinian desire and struggle to have an independent and viable state. This is the disintegration of the state."

Israeli officials deny that a policy to cut up the West Bank is place. They say that the roadblocks and checkpoints are to stop Palestinian suicide bombers from reaching Israeli cities and towns.

Palestinians are dealing with frequent traffic delays

"We make maximum effort to allow the movement of people and goods within the framework of a very difficult security situation," says Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

"Unfortunately there are too many examples of Israel taking down roadblocks only for them to be exploited by a terrorist group.

"We understand that's its necessary to have maximum contiguity in the West Bank. It's in our interest for Palestinians to go from city to city without having to pass through any checkpoint."