Although a general curfew remains in effect at night and a partial curfew remains in effect at night and a partial curfew during the day, life is gradually resuming a more normal pace in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli authorities announced that schools in the territories would be reopened in stages, starting Tuesday.
Bridges that span the Jordan River, closed when the war started, have been reopened. But only dignitaries or media people were allowed to cross with special permits Monday, with several dozen such people making the trip.
Palestinian workers are being allowed into Israel proper, and some 1,200 Gaza fishermen were permitted to go out to sea Monday for the first time since the Persian Gulf war began 35 days ago.
The curfew in effect since then is the longest ever imposed on the 1.5 million Palestinian who inhabit the territories.
They were sequestered because of concern that their support for Saddam Hussein would lead to turbulent clashes with Israeli authorities and further inflame the 3-year-old uprising.
Last week, the authorities lifted the curfew for several hours to allow people to shop for household goods and go to work near their homes.
On Monday, about 11,500 Palestinians reported to jobs in Israel. That was 10 times the number permitted early last week but a far cry from the more than 100,000 Arab laborers from the territories who worked in Israel daily before the Gulf war.
Schools in the territories have been closed almost without interruption since December, when students left for their two-week midyear vacation.
Classes resumed on Jan. 13 but were closed two days later when the U.N. ultimatum for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait expired, making war inevitable.
The Israeli authorities said Monday that classes would be resumed first in the elementary grades and then the higher grades. They stressed that it was conditional on order being maintained. If the schools become scenes of unrest or intifada activists attempt to stir trouble, they will be closed again.
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