Israel suspends security ties with Palestinians

Jericho (West Bank), Apr 10: Israel suspended formal security ties with the Palestinians today in a bid to further isolate the new Hamas government one day after declaring it a hostile entity.

Thousands of Palestinians poured into Gaza streets to protest both aid cuts by Western powers and a sharp increase in military action by Israel.

Avi Dichter, a top adviser to interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, told Israel radio that a ground assault of Gaza could not be ruled out.

''We have done it in the past and can do so in the present,'' said Dichter, who may be appointed to a senior security post in Olmert's new cabinet.

Israel has stepped up strikes in Gaza since election victor Hamas took control of the Palestinian Authority in late March.

A shell landed near a house in north Gaza today, wounding two Palestinians, witnesses said. Israel says the shelling is meant to combat rocket attacks by militants.

Having ruled out contacts with the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, the army moved today to suspend remaining security coordination.

At a joint coordination office near the West Bank city of Jericho, Palestinian Colonel Khaled Ziyar and his men piled their belongings on to a pick-up truck and turned keys to the facility over to the Israelis.

The Palestinian officers took down posters of President Mahmoud Abbas and a Palestinian flag, marking a formal break in relations.

The Jericho district coordination office, located on the outskirts of Jericho, was the last security facility to be manned by both Israelis and Palestinians.

In other parts of the West Bank, cooperation was done by telephone.

Hamas officials said Israel's decision, and newly announced cuts in direct Western financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, amounted to collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

''This is an injustice, and we call on the European countries to reconsider their decision,'' Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the Hamas-led Palestinian parliament, told protesters in Gaza ahead of a meeting at which EU foreign ministers were expected to endorse the aid cuts.

Policy of blackmail

''We tell the whole world, the United Nations, the Quartet, that the policy of blackmail through stopping aid will not break the will of our people,'' Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad political leader, said.

Earlier today, Palestinian children threw eggs at UN offices in Gaza to protest the aid cuts.

While the Israeli army has suspended security ties with the Palestinians, coordination over civil matters can continue through the office of Abbas, whose Fatah faction was crushed by Hamas in January elections.

Hamas is sworn to destroy Israel but has largely abided by a year-old ceasefire that other militant groups have ignored.

Israel has vowed not to negotiate with Hamas unless it recognises the Jewish state's right to exist, renounces violence and accepts interim peace deals. Hamas says talks with Israel would be futile.

Israel has halted the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, but it said it would allow the frozen funds to be used to pay the authority's debts to Israeli utility companies.

Reuters