Israel yesterday sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip until at least next Tuesday, after its Defence Minister, Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, cited intelligence reports of an impending attempt by Hamas Islamic militants to carry out "a horrific, unprecedented attack in Israel", David Horovitz writes from Jerusalem.
The closure, which affects more than two million Palestinians, and which was immediately condemned by President Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority as an unjustified "collective punishment", also followed a warning by the Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin that a response to Israel's killing last month of two leading Hamas militants "will come at the appropriate time."
Several incidents in recent days have underlined the potential of the sheikh's threat: Palestinian officials last week intercepted two Hamas activists carrying 60 kg of explosives to the crossing point between Gaza and Israel. A Hamas member was killed when a car bomb exploded earlier this week. (Israeli officials claim it exploded prematurely, but some Palestinian sources say the incident was a set-up.)
Two hand grenades were thrown at an Israeli army patrol in Hebron on Wednesday, injuring 13 soldiers and 11 Palestinians. And Palestinian police recently uncovered a bomb-making factory, also in Hebron, seizing almost a ton of explosive material.
Since the grenade attack, Israel has kept a curfew on the area of Hebron it still controls - fourfifths of the city is now governed by the Palestinians - and has placed concrete blocks across one of the main roads linking the two sectors, at the site of Wednesday's incident. The tension in Hebron, the only major West Bank city where Israel still retains any military presence, remains high; after prayers yesterday, clashes erupted between Palestinian youths and the army, and seven Palestinians were hurt by rubber bullets.
The latest incidents highlight both the urgent need to break the stalemate in Middle East peacemaking, and the fact that security co-operation between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority can still be productive in thwarting violent attacks.
Unmoved by such considerations, however, several members of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet are urging the Prime Minister not to attend President Clinton's scheduled mid-October peace summit, arguing that he may be forced into making exaggerated "concessions" to the Palestinians.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, is due here on Tuesday, along with the US peace envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, to prepare the ground for the Washington summit.