Israel closes off West Bank and Gaza

Israel today arrested 15 militants and prohibited most Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza from entering Israel in response to a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis a day earlier.

The relatively restrained reaction raised the possibility that a fresh round of bloodshed might be averted. Harsher actions, such as killing Islamic Jihad leaders blamed for yesterday’s bombing were still possible, Israeli officials said.

Palestinian security also arrested some Islamic Jihad militants, leading the small, violent group to charge that the Palestinian Authority was acting as Israel’s police force.

The suicide bombing in hard-hit Netanya, just nine miles from the West Bank, came as both Israel and the Palestinians were in the midst of election campaigns.

A sudden escalation could boost hard-liners challenging the sitting governments, so both sides had an interest in keeping the lid on.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom charged that the Palestinian Authority has failed to take steps against militants, forcing Israel to act.

However, he ruled out a ground operation in Gaza to counter repeated rocket attacks from the territory Israel relinquished in September.

“We will do all we can to strike at the attackers, and we will do all we can to prevent terror,” Shalom said after meeting US Ambassador Richard Jones.

The open-ended closure order banned thousands of Palestinian workers from reaching their jobs in Israel.

In an indication that the ban would be in effect for a long time, the military statement said Palestinian Christians would be allowed access to Jerusalem “during the Christian holidays of December.”

Yesterday’s suicide bombing was the third at the Netanya mall and the 123rd overall in the current round of violence, which erupted in September 2000.

In 2002, at the height of a wave of such attacks, Israel launched a large-scale ground assault on the West Bank and retook towns and areas turned over to the Palestinians under interim peace accords.

Since then, Israel has maintained control of much of the West Bank, posting roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the territory. Israel insists they are needed for security, by Palestinians complain that they stifle commercial and social life, crippling the economy.

Also, Israel has been building a separation barrier along the West Bank, dipping into the territory in some places.

The barrier is about three-quarters completed, and Israeli security officials credit it with helping to cut the number of suicide bombings in Israel.

Palestinians denounce the barrier as a land grab and complain that thousands of their people are cut off from fields and services because of the route of the wall.

With the roadblocks and barrier in place, Israel’s options for further measures after suicide bombings are limited, but officials pledged action.

“We decided to operate in a much broader, much deeper and more intensive manner against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure, and I hope that we will be able to prevent such attacks in the future,” Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told Army Radio today, without giving details – as hardliners running in Israel’s March 28 election clamoured for a tough response.

Also, Palestinian security forces arrested 13 Islamic Jihad members today in the West Bank, said Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, spokesman for the Palestinian Interior Ministry.

But Israel dismissed the gesture as insufficient.

“Arresting a few activists in a particular atrocity is simply not enough,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

“This group has to be thoroughly disarmed. If not, they will continue to wreak havoc, murdering innocent civilians and killing the chance for peace.”