Palestinians in Gaza Have Roadblock Rage

GUSH KATIF, Gaza Strip -- The four-hour wait at an Israeli roadblock had left Wafa Ashur exhausted and enraged--again.

In her arms, she held her 8-month-old daughter, Rawiya. Wedged between her and another passenger in the stifling taxi was her 5-year-old son, Saado, his eyes dulled with boredom and fatigue. And as far as the eye could see ahead and behind them were hundreds of other Palestinian mothers, fathers, children, workers and students, caught in what for thousands of Palestinians is a daily ritual.

Roadblocks have become the most hated and ubiquitous symbol of Israel's military intrusion into Palestinian lives in the last 20 months. And no roadblock is more tortuous than the one here at Gush Katif, where the only north-south artery of the Gaza Strip intersects a road that connects a cluster of 15 Jewish settlements to pre-1967 Israel. On this desolate and dusty stretch of roadway, Israel's stated policy of sparing Palestinian civilians in its fight against militants has broken down. Here, and at dozens of other roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the endless waits at checkpoints that the army says are vital security measures have created the sort of mass misery for Palestinians that successive Israeli governments tried for decades to avoid.

In the last two years, Palestinian militants have repeatedly attacked civilian and military convoys traveling to and from Gush Katif, killing and wounding Jewish settlers and soldiers in suicide bombings and drive-by shootings. All told, the militants have killed about 20 Israeli civilians and 35 soldiers in Gaza since hostilities erupted in September 2000, according to the army.

In response to the attacks, the army has imposed what it acknowledges are draconian measures designed to separate the two peoples. They are steps that the army says it knows exact a heavy toll.

"This pressure we are putting on them is no good for us," said Brig. Gen. Zvi Fogel, chief of staff for the army's southern command. "When normal civilians are kept here for hours, they become angry and frustrated. We know that if the situation goes on like this for a few more months, the potential for suicide bombers will be much greater."