GET RICH QUICK!

In boost for peace plan, Israel agrees to hand over four West Bank towns to Palestinian control (Lara Sukhtian, 8/15/2003, Associated Press)

In a major boost for the ''road map'' peace plan, Israel has agreed to hand over an additional four West Bank cities to Palestinian control, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Friday.

Israel also announced that it will permit Yasser Arafat to travel to the Gaza Strip to visit the grave of his sister Yousra, who died earlier this week and was buried in Gaza City, Israel TV reported. It would be Arafat's first time leaving his besieged compound in Ramallah in more than a year and a half. [...]

Implementation of the road map peace plan has been held up in recent weeks in a dispute over the release of Palestinian prisoners and demands for a crackdown on Palestinian militants. In the meantime, a key truce by militants has been shaken by two suicide bombings this week that killed one person and other violence.

So far, Israel has returned to Palestinian control the West Bank town of Bethlehem and parts of the Gaza Strip.

Israel freed 73 Palestinian detainees on Friday, the second group in less than two weeks, though Palestinians dismissed the release as insufficient.

Here's an easy and nearly foolproof way to make money: every time folks claim that a recent bout of violence or some other stumble marks the end of the Road Map, bet them a thousand dollars they're wrong. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 15, 2003 5:05 PM