MIDDLE EAST: Israeli troops set up temporary roadblocks that essentially divided the Gaza Strip into three zones yesterday, in an effort to thwart a new spate of rocket-fire into Israel and the shelling of a Jewish settlement in Gaza.
Troops were also reported to be operating in southern Gaza, and in the Nablus, Hebron and Jenin areas of the West Bank.
Israel has frequently resorted to erecting roadblocks on major Gaza thoroughfares - a practice protested by the Palestinians as collective punishment - in an attempt, it says, both to intercept potential attackers and to complicate the transfer of rockets and other weaponry from one area of the Strip to another.
But such policies, combined with heavier military incursions into the areas from where the rockets are launched, have failed to stem the fire.
Yesterday's roadblocks were set up after two Qassam rockets were fired from northern Gaza into Sderot, a small town just across the border in southern Israel, and after mortar shells were launched at the Gaza settlement of Morag. There were no injuries from any of the fire, although five Israelis in Sderot were treated for shock after one of the Qassams crashed into a garden shed.
Israel launched six weeks of military operations designed to halt the rocket fire in late June, after a toddler and a middle-aged man were killed by Qassam fire in Sderot, but there was more rocket fire as soon as the troops withdrew.
Palestinian residents of northern Gaza have sometimes tried to oppose Hamas and other gunmen firing from their home areas, for fear of the Israeli response, but to little avail.
Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, declaring his intention to withdraw all troops and settlers from Gaza by the end of next year, is refusing formally to coordinate the pullout with Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Among the reasons he cites is Mr Arafat's disinclination to order his security forces to mount a sustained effort to prevent rocket fire and other attacks.
Would-be reformers in the PA, along with Egyptian mediators who fear a further rise in Hamas strength should Israel leave a power vacuum in Gaza, are urging Mr Arafat to delegate security responsibility to Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Qurei, but Mr Arafat is baulking.
Meanwhile, at a rally in Gaza City yesterday, masked gunmen from the al-Aqsa Brigades vowed to "step up our efforts" to kidnap Israeli soldiers and settlers to use as bargaining chips for the release of Palestinian prisoners.