Unmanned Ramallah checkpoints set to be dismantled

UN's OCHA puts out photographs of the unmanned Bir Zeit and Atara checkpoints that it said had been taken in recent days.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
The IDF will soon dismantle the physical infrastructure of two checkpoints around Ramallah, which were abandoned by Israel this week, an army source told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. The source was responding to comments by the UN's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which put out photographs of the unmanned Bir Zeit and Atara checkpoints that it said had been taken in recent days. Judith Harel, of the OCHA's Information and Advocacy Unit, said in an e-mail that "the infrastructure remains in place, so as far as we are concerned, this is not a removal of a checkpoint but a change in its status to a partial checkpoint." However, the IDF source said that "the army simply has not gotten around to dismantling the physical infrastructure. This will happen soon."