Israel has re-opened a key border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, and says it will soon remove major roadblocks ringing five Palestinian towns in the West Bank. Israel says 1,000 Palestinian workers and hundreds of Gaza merchants will be allowed to enter Israel Thursday at the Erez crossing. The crossing was closed last month after militants killed six Israeli civilians in northern Gaza.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says Israel will remove the roadblocks as it hands over security control of West Bank urban centers in the coming weeks. Those towns include Jericho, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem and Ramallah. Wednesday's developments come a day after an Israeli-Palestinian summit, where Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared an end to militant attacks on Israelis. Israel, in turn, promised to stop killing Palestinians anywhere.
