Unobtrusively, the Allenby Bridge that links the occupied West Bank with Jordan, is becoming a regular international border post through which people and goods move with relative freedom. Forty-one former West Bankers crossed the bridge from Jordan yesterday, returning under the family reunion scheme approved by Israel some months ago. The Ministry of Interior meanwhile has recommended that police take over the job of checking travellers’ documents, a duty handled up to now by Israeli army units.
The Mayor of Nablus advised fellow Arabs today to come to terms with Israel’s presence on the West Bank because Israel shows every intention of staying there and cannot be destroyed. Mayor Hamdi Kanaan, who was elected before last June’s war, said that was the opinion of all West Bank mayors.
Mayor Kanaan spoke to correspondents of Agence France Presse and an Israeli news service. He said that the “conquest of Palestine by Israel” in 1948 was the “greatest disaster of the century” and that Israel should have been “annihilated” a year or two after its establishment, “but now it’s too late.”
He cited as evidence of Israel’s intention to remain in the West Bank territories, various projects such as road building and offers of loans to West Bank schools. He noted that Israeli occupying forces in Nablus “try to be pleasant” but are met with “glances of venomous hatred” from the citizens.
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