Israel has closed off Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip in response to obstruction of the dismantling of outposts in the occupied territory by Jewish fundamentalists.
The Israeli military supports the plan despite it meaning the diversion of thousands of troops to the border as violence over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan reached a new peak yesterday.
Security officials met through the night to consider the plan and this morning announced that all Gaza settlements would be closed off to non-residents. The army is due to declare the settlements “closed military zones”.
The move follows violence around the settlements involving settlers and protesters on one side; and Palestinians with the army either in the middle or clashing with the fundamentalists.
There was further trouble today in the southern Gaza Strip. Activists had barricaded themseleves into the Palm Beahc Hotel where they had stockpiled food and weapons.
There were no reports of violence, though when some the estimeated 150 peopel were forced to leave many resisted and were dragged out in handcuffs.
Israeli troops yesterday, smashed their way into a Gaza building, ejecting about 30 right-wing Jews who seized it as an outpost of resistance to the withdrawal.
Soldiers earlier fired in the air to quell stone-throwing between the right-wingers squatting in the vacant Palestinian house and inhabitants in the al-Mawasi district enclosed by the Gush Katif bloc of settlements.
In the northern Gaza Strip, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at what the army described as a rocket and mortar depot, the first such attack since Israel and the Palestinian Authority declared a ceasefire in February.
Residents of the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun said a water pumping facility was hit. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Before the air strike, militants fired more than 20 rockets and mortar bombs at Jewish settlements in Gaza.
As chaos swept across Israel, demonstrators blocked main highways in sit-down protests that tied up traffic during the evening rush hour.
Police arrested 150 demonstrators and used water cannon for the first time since such protests began several months ago, dispersing youths blocking the main entrance to Jerusalem.
Agencies