Battles flare as Israel begins lifting blockade

JERUSALEM - Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen battled as Israel began lifting a blockade on Palestinian territories.

Israel bowed to international pressure yesterday, opening roads and removing road blocks that have hampered Palestinian movement and dealt a severe blow to an already ailing economy.

But as firefights raged throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an Army spokesman said troops had been forced to reclose roads around the town of Qalqilya after gunmen fired on an Israeli car. No casualties were reported.

A blockade on Ramallah, the West Bank's business centre, was eased, but Brigadier-General Benny Gantz said restrictions would remain in place until Israel captured a "terror" cell planning an attack in nearby Jerusalem.

Washington and the European Union sharply criticised the blockade, which Israel said it was imposing for security reasons at the start of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation that has lasted almost six months.

Palestinians brand the closure collective punishment.

A senior Israeli military source said yesterday that the Army was braced for an escalation of violence towards the end of the month when Arab leaders meet in Amman, Jordan.

"There is danger of more violence and I think the Palestinians will try to provoke the area as much as they can. They would like to reach the Arab summit with higher flames in the area. I think escalation is a real potential."

Some 344 Palestinians, 65 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in the uprising so far.

At least 18 Palestinians suffered tear gas inhalation after clashing with Israeli troops in the West Bank village of Tqou'a, Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said.

The officials said a number of victims taken to hospital were unconscious.

The Israeli Army reported gunmen had opened fire in the Nablus area of the West Bank. No casualties were reported.

Defence Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said he would try to end Israel's use of heavy weaponry in its attempts to quell the uprising.

European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten and Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Land, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, urged Israel to lift the blockade to prevent the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

The two European leaders met Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Tuesday and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres yesterday.

"It does seem to us that if the economy continues to deteriorate in the West Bank and Gaza ... if the Palestinian Administration is undermined as a potential centre of authority, then it's going to be more difficult to get back to any political stability," Patten told a news conference.

"It's going to be more difficult to relaunch the [peace] process which had travelled a long way before, alas, it capsized."

- REUTERS

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