Israel Court Gives OK to Raze Gaza Synagogues

Israel’s top court ruled Thursday that the army can demolish the synagogues of evacuated Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, clearing a last hurdle to withdrawing from the occupied territory.

Rejecting an appeal by leading rabbis, the High Court of Justice accepted the government’s position that leaving the 25 houses of worship intact would expose them to possible desecration by Palestinians.

The rabbis had argued that ritual law forbade Jews from destroying synagogues, and that keeping them intact, even at the risk of desecration, was preferable.

A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said the demolitions would be deferred so the Cabinet could put them to a final vote Sunday.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has said Israel plans to start its military withdrawal from Gaza, the pullout’s final stage, on Monday and complete it as scheduled by Thursday.

Israeli troops guarding one of the 21 demolished settlements shot dead a Palestinian at the perimeter fence, stoking tensions that have simmered since Jewish settlers were removed from Gaza last month under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s pullout plan.

Israeli troops said the dead Palestinian and a 12-year-old boy who was wounded had tried to cut through the perimeter fence at Atzmona. Relatives of the dead man said the two were scavenging for scrap metal.

Also Thursday, Israel said it had shut the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt for six months of renovations in the absence of a deal with the Palestinians for them to move freely in and out of Gaza after the pullout.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Palestinian travelers and goods could move for now between Gaza and Egypt through the Nitzana crossing on the Israeli-Egyptian border about 25 miles south of Gaza.

In other developments, Palestinian militants freed Manhal Arafat, son of slain former security chief Moussa Arafat. He was kidnapped and his father shot early Wednesday in a raid the militants described as a reprisal for collaboration with Israel.

The elder Arafat was a cousin of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

A masked spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees told reporters that Manhal Arafat had been freed after negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.