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TITLE: Israel Clamps New Closure on Gaza Strip |
AUTHOR: Amos Harel and Amira Hass |
PUB: Ha'aretz |
DATE: January 16, 2001 |
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Israel has reimposed a full closure on the Gaza Strip, and divided the strip into three sections between which no traffic is permitted, in response to the murder of Roni Tzalach of Kfar Yam on Sunday. In addition, all diplomatic and security negotiations with the Palestinian Authority were suspended yesterday. However, they will apparently resumetoday, at least partially. Tzalach's body was found yesterday morning after an all-night search, in a Palestinian agricultural zone some 200 meters from his greenhouses in the Gush Katif settlement bloc. He had been shot in the head at close range. Having found the body, the Israel Defense Forces now believe the attack on Tzalach was a straightforward murder rather than a kidnap attempt. The kidnapping theory stemmed from the conflicting Palestinian reports that reached the IDF after Tzalach was reported missing on Sunday. Some of these reports said Tzalach was dead, but others said he had been seen alive in Khan Yunis later that day. Tzalach's killers, apparently a group of three or four people, fled to Khan Yunis in Tzalach's car after the murder, and the car was then torched by local residents. The PA returned the remains of the car to the IDF at about 3 A.M. yesterday. Tzalach was buried in Gush Katif yesterday. Before and during the funeral, dozens of settlers organized a rampage through Palestinian villages near to where his body was discovered, though the IDF believes the murderers probably came from Khan Yunis. The settlers burned greenhouses, homes, stores, cars and fields, uprooted trees and damaged irrigation equipment, and fired in the air. Settlers and Palestinians also threw stones at each other, and some Palestinians said they were beaten. According to Palestinian sources, the rampage lasted for two hours. The IDF intervened only belatedly. Police have arrested two of the suspected rioters. The army believes that Tzalach's killers might have included some of the young Palestinian laborers employed by Tzalach, in defiance of IDF security regulations. Brigadier-General Yair Naveh, commander of the IDF forces in Gaza, said the fact that these workers were employed without a permit makes it harder to identify and trace them. The Gazan settlements' regional council, however, objected to the implication that Tzalach was partially responsible for his own murder. "Roni believed in coexistence... and he provided employment for his neighbors," the council said in a statement. It is not yet clear which Palestinian organization was responsible for the killing, as two groups claimed responsibility yesterday: one affiliated with Hamas and one with the Tanzim militias. But the IDF considers Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, with whom the Tanzim are associated, a likely suspect. The Palestinian Authority is not thought to have been directly involved in the attack, but Naveh said the PA "created the atmosphere" that made the murder possible. The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying that it holds the PA responsible for Tzalach's murder, and demanding that the PA halt the attacks against Israel and capture the killers. Due to the murder, Israel reimposed a full closure on Gaza yesterday, shutting down the international border crossing at Rafah, the Karni crossing into Israel and the Gaza airport. The IDF also reinstated the roadblocks that trisect the strip and prevent traffic between the different sections. Finally, the IDF forbade the entrance of Palestinian laborers into Gush Katif - partially for their own protection. But military sources complained yesterday that the closure is ineffective, due to the fact that it is constantly being lifted and then reinstated. Officers in Gaza have asked the government for permission to take harsher measures against the PA. Palestinians said that phone service and electricity in Khan Yunis were also cut off Sunday night, and restored only yesterday afternoon. However, they said, it is not clear who was responsible for this step. Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala), the speaker of the Palestinian legislature, criticized the murder of a civilian in an interview with Voice of Palestine radio yesterday, but also protested the collective punishment Israel had imposed in response. Other Palestinians, however, said they did not share Qureia's objection to killing settlers. Ahmed Hilis, a leader of the Fatah movement in Gaza, for instance, said that the settlers are the aggressors, and the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves and protest the "occupation." Tzalach's murder was the first in Gush Katif in almost two months, apparently because a new IDF deployment in Gaza had helped to frustrate most attacks. END |