To: Les H who wrote (44726 ) 1/23/2025 11:55:58 AM From: Les H Read Replies (1) | Respond to Israeli Minister Smotrich's Son Wins Cheap Land Plot on Ruins of Bedouin VillageIsraeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's 21-year-old son won the option of buying a plot in a community being built at the site of the demolished Umm al-Hiran for just $16,800 Haaretz The order is slated to remain in effect through the cease-fire's first stage, following the Netanyahu government's directive ¦ Palestinians report massive traffic jams across the West Bank, with some saying their commute now takes hours Traffic jams began forming at the exits from Palestinian cities immediately when the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Sunday. For example, the checkpoint at Jaba' – one of the few roads between Jerusalem and Ramallah – was closed for several hours. Checks were carried out at other exits from Ramallah, causing vehicles to wait for many hours, and iron gates between side roads and main roads were completely closed. The checkpoints mostly affects Palestinians, and have little impact on settlers , since few roads in the West Bank are used by both groups. Effectively, there are two separate road networks. The IDF can close Palestinian towns with iron gates and operate checkpoints on junctions and exits that connect Palestinian roads with main roads shared by Jewish settlers, with little, if any, impact on the latter. The IDF has admitted that the orders had changed, and instead of checking only suspicious vehicles, soldiers must now check every vehicle. In some cases, the army was ordered to completely close exits from Palestinian cities. Haaretz
