Collective punishment: Israel locks down Al-Khalil, hits Gaza

Israeli troops locked down the occupied West Bank's most populous city Hebron and surrounding villages on Saturday after two Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks nearby.

The crackdown comes amid a flare-up in nine months of deadly violence and after key diplomatic players called for urgent steps by both sides to revive the moribund peace process.
Troops closed all exit roads from Al-Khalil except for the main northern one through the town of Halhul toward Jerusalem, an AFP correspondent reported.
The army on Friday said it would close off the flashpoint city and deploy two additional battalions to the area.
Several hundred Jewish settlers illegally live in a tightly guarded enclave in the heart of the city of more than 200,000 Palestinians, a persistent source of tensions.
The army has revoked the Israeli work permits of all residents of the village.
The army said no decision had been taken on how long the closure would remain in place, but Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said it should stay “for an extended period of time.”
In a report released Friday, the Middle East diplomatic Quartet said Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories was “steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution”.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military struck a series of sites in Gaza early Saturday in response to a rocket attack that hit a kindergarten in the Israeli border town of Sderot. No injuries were reported on either side but damage was caused to buildings.

Source: Arab News