Gun battles flare on West Bank

A bulldozer clears a blockade outside the West Bank town of Ramallah

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli troops fought gun battles with Palestinians overnight as Israel began lifting a blockade on the Palestinian territories.

Firefights broke out in the West Bank and Gaza, a day after Palestinians accused Israel of firing tank shells at a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

The Israeli Government bowed to international pressure by re-opening roads and removing roadblocks in Palestinian areas.

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 was eased Tuesday but Brigadier-General Benny Gantz said restrictions would remain in place until Israel captured activists planning an attack in nearby Jerusalem.

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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. They have called for an immediate Security Council meeting to approve a U.N. force to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, saying Israel has "suffocated" the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian U.N. envoy, Nasser Al-Kidwa, said in a letter that Israel's "bloody military campaign" has intensified since the council defeated a resolution to authorize a U.N. observer force in December after an intense U.S. campaign against it.

He said: "The Palestinian people under Israeli occupation are now suffocated and besieged," he said, citing new Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, including roadblocks, trenches and the bulldozing of paved roads.

"We are calling upon the Security Council to convene an immediate meeting to consider the increasingly dangerous situation on the ground ... with the aim of taking the necessary measures, including the establishment of an observer force to contribute in providing protection for the Palestinian civilians."

The Palestinian decision to seek an immediate council meeting came hours after Arab ministers meeting in Cairo asked the Security Council to review Israel's tightening blockade of Palestinian territories and create an international force to protect the Palestinians.

EU officials are to urge Israel to lift its blockades of Palestinian towns in an attempt to salvage peace efforts.

The EU delegation, currently in Israel, has warned that failure to lift the blockades could result in the collapse of the Palestinian administration and the growth of extremism.

The blockades are preventing Palestinians from travelling to work and trading their goods throughout the area and the Palestinian Authority is said to be in a financial crisis prompted by the territories' closure.

EU pressures Israel on blockades
March 13, 2001
Palestinians call for U.N. force in West Bank, Gaza
March 13, 2001
Arabs urge U.N. to send international force to Palestinian
March 12, 2001
Israel rules out immediate talks
March 11, 2001
Palestinian killed in blockade clash
March 12, 2001
Sharon defends West Bank blockade
March 12, 2001

Palestinian National Authority
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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