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Israeli soldiers stand guard as Jewish settlers walk past the Palm Beach Hotel, also known as "Fortress by the Sea," after the area was declared a closed military zone. The IDF reopened Gaza today. (AP)
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07/01
Haaretz |
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| By israelinsider staff and partners June 30, 2005 |
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After a day ago declaring it a closed military zone, the IDF today reopened the Gaza Strip, allowing Israelis free access to the area. A series of violent incidents had prompted the IDF to isolate the Gaza Strip, declaring it a "closed military zone" to prevent Jewish settlers from going in. The army had sealed the Jewish settlements, preventing residents from traveling between towns, and had also banned reporters.
Along with the lifting of entry restrictions, the army ordered a limit on the number of goods and belongings being brought into the area to enable an extended stay by settlers.
The Israeli military on Thursday isolated the Gaza Strip, declaring it a "closed military zone" to prevent Jewish extremists from going in after a series of violent incidents in recent days.
The army said in a statement that because of the violence, "the head of the southern command... signed a closure order preventing nonresidents from entering the Gaza Strip."
IDF sources said the closure order would be reconsidered if the situation in Gush Katif calms down.
The hotel had for weeks been home to around 100 extreme right-wingers opposed to the disengagement from Gaza, who had surrounded the area with barbed wire and stockpiled food.
Jewish extremists on Wednesday clashed with both Israeli security forces and Palestinian civilians, severely wounding a Palestinian. Settlers and soldiers also clashed over the weekend.
"In the past day there has been another serious escalation of extremist activity," an army statement said. "There is intelligence information that more extremist groups are moving toward the Gaza Strip with the intention of strengthening their friends and to escalate the provocative acts."
The army sealed the Jewish settlements, preventing residents from traveling between the towns.
The IDF also prevented reporters from entering the Gush Katif settlement bloc.
IDF soldiers even handcuffed two journalists and distanced them from the Maoz Hayam Hotel in Gush Katif. The two journalists were Channel 1 TV reporter Viko Atuwan and Maariv photographer Adi Yisraeli.
The ban is in sharp contrast to the IDF spokesman's repeated assurances that it would allow transparency and free reporting of events in the Strip during the disengagement from Gaza.
The army also encircled a Gaza Strip hotel in which Jewish settlers have been holed up, taking up positions on the coast and setting the stage for a possible operation to remove about 150 extremists from inside the structure. The area of the hotel was declared a closed military zone on Wednesday.
Extremists have been holed up inside the derelict hotel for weeks. They have surrounded the area with barbed-wire and stockpiled food. Israeli media have reported in recent weeks military intentions to raid the hotel and arrest those inside.
Those inside the hotel said they planned to handcuff themselves to metal poles once the army raid begins. They said they would only nonviolent means of resistance and would call on soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate them.
Gaza residents protested against the army's decision to close off the coastal area.
"Why are they disturbing our daily life. People have to go out, work, carry on their day-to-day routine," said Debbie Rosen, a resident of the Neve Dekalim settlement told Israel Radio. "This is totally senseless," she said.
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, a group of about 50 Gaza pullout opponents blocked a main thoroughfare, a day after hundreds of protesters shut down main highways throughout the country.
In an interview published Thursday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he ordered police to crack down on the extremists.
"This bothers me exceptionally. This is an act of savagery, vulgarity and irresponsibility," Sharon told the Haaretz daily. "The country's citizens must understand this danger, and every measure must be taken to end this rampaging."
The extremists, who are opposed to Israel's planned pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank, clashed with soldiers and Palestinians before being evicted from a house they commandeered on the Gaza sea shore Wednesday.
During the violence a Palestinian youth was seriously wounded when some of the Jewish youths cornered him, throwing stones at him and beating him unconscious. The incident was caught on film and sparked widespread condemnation across Israel.
Declaring Gaza a closed military area allows the army and police to remove anyone without a resident permit, making it easier for the security forces to control the area. Officials had said they reserved the right to seal off Gaza, saying the decision to do so would depend on the level of unrest.
Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra said police were doing all they could to apprehend those behind Wednesday's violence, which he called a "lynch" attempt. "We are obligated to find those who were behind this," he told Israel Radio.
The clash in Gaza showed that a handful of violent extremists could change the nature of Sharon's "disengagement" plan, from unarmed soldiers dragging protesting but otherwise peaceful settlers from their homes, to violent clashes, possibly with firearms, between security forces and extremists bent on foiling the evacuation any way they can. Disengagement, or Israel's withdrawal from all Gaza settlements and four West Bank settlements, is set to begin in mid-August.
"The battle now is not over the disengagement plan, but over the image and future of Israel and under no circumstances can we allow a lawless gang to try take control of life in Israel," Sharon told Haaretz.
The clashes came as extremists also attempted to tie up traffic throughout Israel, blocking several major intersections around Israel.
Police used a water cannon to disperse protesters blocking the highway at the entrance to Jerusalem, displaying a new determination to counter the disruptions.
Lawmaker Yossi Sarid of the dovish Meretz Party accused the police of failing to do more to prevent the violence in Gaza.
"What a pathetic country that the prime minister has to give an order to apprehend those who carried out a lynch," Sarid told Israel Radio. "Is there any one in the army or in the police.... Who can explain why they were not arrested at the scene," he said.
Settler leaders also condemned the incident, saying the youths were from a violent fringe group and did not represent the settler movement. "There is no connection between Judaism and those who carried out this," said Shaul Yahalom, a lawmaker form the National Religious Party.
After sunset Wednesday, Palestinians fired several mortar shells at settlements in southern Gaza. A Thai worker was slightly injured, the military said.
The AP contributed to this report.
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