Palestinians who approach Gaza fence will be shot, says IDF
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 07:53 01/07/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/997897.html

Israel has informed Hamas it will fire "warning shots" at Palestinians
who enter an area west of the Gaza Strip border fence, extending for several
hundred meters.

Egyptian officials told Hamas of the new procedure, which is expected to
raise tensions between the two sides.

Israel's representative in truce talks, Amos Gilad, told Egyptian mediators
of the decision to declare the area west of the border a "special security
zone" and to prevent Palestinians from entering it. The Egyptians informed
Hamas, which objects to the plan.

Several incidents have occurred near the fence since a cease-fire came into
effect on June 19.

Earlier this week the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported eight cease-fire violations by Israel.
Most of these violations apparently consisted of Israeli troops firing at
people who approached the fence. OCHA's reports rely mainly on Palestinian
accounts.

Israel is interested in maintaining the security zone for fear that
Palestinian terror groups will use the truce to plant explosives on the
Palestinian side of the fence. This would prepare them if fighting resumes.
In the past, explosives aimed at Israel Defense Forces vehicles on the
Israeli side have been planted in this area.

Israel also fears that Hamas might build a line of fortifications along the
fence as a basis for further attacks, as Hezbollah did in Lebanon between
Israel's pullout from South Lebanon in 2000 and the Second Lebanon War in
2006.

However, preventing people from approaching the fence will block Palestinian
farmers' access to their lands. Farmers have been unable to reach their
fields for years because of the fighting along the border. The IDF suspects
that some of the farmers are sent by terror organizations to plant bombs or
observe Israeli troops.

Throughout the second intifada Israel declared areas along the fence as
"security zones." Soldiers were instructed to fire warning shots at people
approaching the fence, and for certain periods were allowed to shoot even at
unarmed people. These instructions met resistance in the army, with senior
officers saying civilians were being killed.

The IDF believes that Hamas has recently been taking firmer action to curb
other Palestinian factions' attacks against Israel. IDF sources told Haaretz
that Hamas' leadership in Gaza apparently wants to maintain the truce and is
trying to enforce its authority on the smaller factions.

At the beginning of the week Israel opened the border crossings that had
been closed last Thursday after Qassam rockets were fired at the Western
Negev