Israel shuts Gaza crossing, will demolish synagogues

JERUSALEM - Israeli troops guarding one of the 21 demolished settlements shot dead a Palestinian at the perimeter fence, stoking tensions that have simmered since Jews were removed from Gaza last month under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout plan.

Israel said it had shut the main Gaza-Egypt border crossing for six months of renovations in the absence of a deal with Palestinians for them to move freely in and out of Gaza after a pullout expected to be completed next week.

At Atzmona settlement, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian and wounded a 12-year-old boy who the army said had tried to cut through the perimeter fence. Relatives of the dead man said the pair were scavenging for scrap metal. A similar killing earlier this week prompted Islamic militants to retaliate by shelling an Israeli border town.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Palestinian travellers and goods could move for now between Gaza and Egypt through the existing Nitzana crossing just inside Israel.

Palestinian officials deplored the closure of the crossing and said they would continue to insist on total freedom of movement between Gaza and Egypt, without any Israeli oversight.

Barring that, they say, Israeli occupation of Gaza will not have truly ended. Palestinians seek a state in Gaza and the West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Meanwhile Israel's top court has ruled that the army can demolish the synagogues of evacuated Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, clearing a last hurdle to withdrawing from the occupied territory.

Rejecting an appeal by leading rabbis, the High Court of Justice accepted the government's position that leaving the 25 houses of worship intact would expose them to possible desecration by Palestinians.

The rabbis had argued that ritual law forbade Jews from destroying synagogues, and that keeping them intact, even at the risk of desecration, was preferable.

"In our ruling, we do not ignore the great difficulty ... posed to those residents ... for whom the synagogues were a place of prayer, a spiritual centre, where the community would unite at time of sadness and joy," the High Court said.

A Defence Ministry spokeswoman said the demolitions would be deferred for the cabinet to put them to a final vote on Sunday.

It was little consolation to hundreds of rightists who were allowed to hold final prayers at the biggest Gaza settlement.

"On this square meter that I am standing on, Jews will not be able to step in the future," settler leader Shaul Goldstein told Reuters at Neve Dekalim's synagogue on Thursday.

"I can't comprehend it, it's something beyond imagination."

The Palestinian Authority said there was no justification for the synagogues to remain.

The ruling paves the way for Israel to end 38 years of military presence in the Gaza Strip. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has said Israel plans to start the pullout's final stage on Monday and complete it as scheduled by Thursday, September 15.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians on smoothing over the handover, while helped by a truce declared in February, have stumbled amid intermittent violence and mutual recrimination.

The Palestinians have also been plagued by domestic strife. Infighting reached a peak on Wednesday, when gunmen assassinated a former Gaza security chief accused of corruption, Moussa Arafat. His son Manhal was abducted but a source close to negotiations for his release said he was freed on Thursday.

- REUTERS