Palestinians in the small West Bank village of Jubara have been warned by Israel that they must apply for special permits to remain in their homes.
Soldiers began posting notices on telephone poles and at checkpoints around the village of 300 residents earlier.
The military has already trapped them in a tiny pocket of land between Israel and its West Bank security barrier, giving them only sporadic access to their schools, clinics and fields across the fence.
The new notices did not specifically mention expulsion, but Palestinian officials and villagers said they understand this to be the implied threat.
UN officials said the order was unprecedented in Israel's 36-year occupation of the West Bank. "It really turns the right to live in your own home into a privilege," said David Shearer, head of the local UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The army said the new order was not part of a secret expulsion plan but an effort to keep militants from crossing the new security fence to carry out attacks in Israel.
US President George Bush has expressed concern about the security barrier, saying it could interfere with conditions for setting up a Palestinian state.
PA