TEL AVIV, Israel, May 9 (UPI) -- The Israeli army has tightened control over foreigners wishing to cross between Israel proper and the autonomous Palestinian Gaza Strip.
New orders, announced Friday evening, require foreign nationals seeking to enter the Palestinian areas there first obtain permission from the Israel Defense Forces, Israel's military.
Security checks at the Erez Crossing will be "more through," an IDF statement added. A diplomatic source told United Press International that meant visitors would be subjected to metal detector and vehicle checks upon entering and leaving the Gaza Strip.
The crossing that used to be open from 6 a.m. to midnight will now be open only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. "with the exception of special cases that are individually approved," the IDF spokesman said.
Entry will also depend on signing a document that lists areas out of bounds to foreigners: the Gaza Strip's perimeter fence, settlements, IDF positions and various roads as well as the border area with Egypt, where Gaza's most intense fighting has erupted between Israelis and Palestinians since the hostilities reignited in September 2000.
People who wish to cross will have to sign declarations stating they are "aware of the risks involved and accept that the government of the State of Israel and its organs cannot beheld responsible for death, injury ... as result of military activity."
"I also undertake not to disrupt IDF operations in any way and declare that I have no association with the organization known as ISM (International Solidarity Movement) nor any other organization whose aim is to disrupt IDF operations," the document adds. The ISM is a volunteer group of human shields, virtually all foreign nationals, who have tried to stop Israeli troops from bulldozing Palestinian homes and other operations against alleged militants.
An army spokesman noted that "those not upholding these limitations are putting themselves at risk and face legal action."
He and foreign diplomats told UPI that holders of diplomatic passports, diplomatic visas and the United Nations' blue passports will be exempt from the new orders. The situation is less clear with regard to International Red Cross officials. They have already experienced "some delays" at Erez and have raised the matter with Israeli officials, the organization's spokesman Ronald Ofteringer told UPI.
"The ICRC will not sign such a declaration if asked to do so," he stressed. The International Red Cross insists that under the Fourth Geneva Convention "we should have access to civilians in the occupied territories."
The army's announcement said the move "comes as a result of recent events in which foreign nationals abused their status to carry out terror attacks."
The latest suicide bombing, in a pub beside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, was carried out by a British national who crossed from Gaza several hours earlier. Another Briton, who carried a second charge, fled the scene after his bomb malfunctioned. Three people, in addition to the bomber, were killed in the attack.
It is not clear whether the new orders are related to the detention late Thursday of two British nationals, a man and a woman, at Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Military and police spokesmen had no details and the spokesman for the British Consulate in Jerusalem declined to discuss the matter citing confidentiality regulations.
However, the army did say the move is designed also to block "individuals whose aim is to disrupt IDF operations" -- a clear reference to the ISM human shields.
Soldiers and policemen Friday raided the ISM's offices in the West Bank town of Beit Sahur, near Bethlehem, detained three people and confiscated computers and files in what seemed to be the beginning of a crackdown on the group. The three included an local secretary and two foreign nationals, one from Australia and the other from the United States.
The raiders in Beit Sahur carried away eight computers, all the CDs, videocassettes and files, said one of the ISM's founders, Ghassan Andoni.
The ISM has been recruiting foreign volunteers and sending them to trouble spots in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. On its website, against a backdrop of the Palestinian flag, the ISM calls for "resisting the (Israeli) occupation through non-violent direct action."
Some 30 volunteers are in the area now, mostly from the United States, Canada, Britain and Italy, Andoni said.
One activist, Rachel Corrie of Washington state, was killed March 16 as she stood in the way of an armored bulldozer moving to knock down a Palestinian house in the southern Gaza Strip. Three other volunteers have been wounded in clashes and the ISM says one of them, British volunteer Tom Hurndall, is comatose.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman announced earlier this week that Israel would detain and deport ISM volunteers when they "disrupt public order."
"Their presence encourages clashes between Palestinians and the army," a senior defense source added. The army said that members of the ISM "endanger themselves and the IDF troops by their actions."
Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said Friday the two foreigners detained in Beit Sahur, Australian Miranda Cison and American Christian Razovsky, are suspected of having illegally entered a closed military zone. Their case will be presented to the Ministry of Interior that will decide whether to deport them. The Palestinian secretary taken for questioning is expected to be released, Kleiman said.
The ISM asserts that Israel deported some 50 of their volunteers between April and August of 2002, during and after Israel's major offensive into the Palestinian territories, Operation Defense Shield. Some of the volunteers were holed up with Palestinian militants in the Church of Nativity. And since April 2002, Israel denied entry to hundreds of suspected activists and Palestinian sympathizers, the ISM said.
