Israeli army to avoid W.Bank towns during election
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-23 19:53

REDUCED ACTIVITY

Ahead of election day, an Israeli military source said the army would avoid staging military raids, "except in cases of ticking bombs" or an intelligence tip of an imminent attack.

The source said the army would also avoid entry into Palestinian cities for the next three days.

"The Israeli army will reduce its activity (in the West Bank), except for urgent cases," the source said.

Israeli and Palestinian security officials have named a team to coordinate activities through the balloting, Israeli Radio said.

Israeli forces have also been instructed to permit free passage of Palestinian election vehicles through Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank.

Both Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs had said on Sunday that their forces would be on heightened alert in case of an escalation of violence that could disrupt Wednesday's ballot.

Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last week's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, issued a last-minute appeal to its supporters to boycott the poll, but the group's impact on the turnout was expected to be small.

Islamic Jihad has far less grassroots clout than Hamas, which has more established armed units and provides health and education services.

Olmert has ordered aides to draw up contingency plans for the possibility that Hamas wins enough votes to join the Palestinian government. Olmert is standing in for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was incapacitated by a January 4 stroke.

Israel has refused any dialogue with Hamas, which was behind dozens of suicide bomb attacks against Israelis during a more than five-year Palestinian uprising.

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has also refused to deal directly with Hamas.

"If members of Hamas win seats on the Palestinian Legislative Council or receive positions in a Palestinian government, we will not deal with those officials," said Stewart Tuttle, spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Israel.

Opinion polls show Hamas narrowly trailing Abbas's Fatah.