Rice says she will ask Israel to remove more West Bank barriers

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she will ask Israel to remove more physical barriers erected in the West Bank as a bulwark against Palestinian terrorists. Palestinians complain that Israel has played bait-and-switch - removing tiny barriers and calling them roadblocks or only partially dismantling obstacles after pledging to pull them down. Rice said she would question the "qualitative character" of some roadblocks Israel has already removed. "Not all roadblocks are created equal," Rice said with a wry smile. "We don't want to get into a numbers game where you just remove X number of roadblocks but it's not improving the lives of the Palestinians."