Israelis ease Gaza strip travel restrictions
Israel eased travel restrictions on the Gaza Strip today, despite mortar attacks on Jewish settlements in Gaza and an Israeli village outside the fence.
Two mortar shells fell last night in a field next to Nir Oz, an Israeli kibbutz collective farming village outside Gaza, after shells exploded near Atzmona, a Jewish settlement in Gaza. No one was hurt.
Gaza police commander Brig Gen Abdel Razek el-Majaidah said there is a standing order from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat against firing mortars or other weapons from populated Palestinian areas, to prevent injury to civilians from Israeli retaliation.
Razi Jibali, a senior West Bank police commander, said the Palestinian security council met last week and reaffirmed the ruling.
‘‘We will implement this order to stop the Israeli aggression,’’ he said.
Israel’s security cabinet met yesterday and discussed a response to the mortar attacks. No decisions were announced.
Palestinian officials said negotiator Saeb Erekat met with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres late yesterday. The Israelis had no immediate comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ruled out peace negotiations with the Palestinians until all violence stops.
However, Peres met Erekat at an economic conference in Athens, Greece, on April 4, the highest-level meeting since Sharon took office last month. Peres said then that they discussed how to reduce tensions.
The Palestinians said yesterday’s meeting was a continuation of the Athens talk.
Before daybreak today, Israeli soldiers partially opened roadblocks, easing Gaza travel restrictions imposed on Monday after Palestinians fired five mortar rounds at Sderot, an Israeli town about three kilometres outside Gaza. One shell fell about 100 metres from the town.
The Israelis seized two main cross roads, cutting the Gaza Strip into three parts, preventing Palestinians from travelling from one section to another in retaliation for the mortar strike.
Though roads were reopened today, long lines of cars were backed up at Israeli checkpoints as soldiers checked each vehicle. In a statement, the military said it would continue to take steps to ensure security and counter terrorism.
The militant Islamic Hamas took responsibility for firing five mortar rounds at the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom on Wednesday, later releasing pictures and a video of three masked Hamas activists firing mortar shells.
Jewish settlers, who voted overwhelmingly for the hard-line Sharon in a February election, are criticizing him for failing to stop the violence.
Makor Rishon, an Israeli weekly, today reported that Israeli tanks in Hebron fire dummy shells at a hill across from Jewish enclaves in response to Palestinian gunfire. Palestinians said almost all the shells make noise but do little damage.
The Israeli military said normal shells are used in Hebron, where a Jewish baby was shot and killed by a gunman on the hill on March 26.
