Israeli Protesters’ Camp Sealed

Israeli police backed by officers on horseback sealed off an encampment filled with thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters Tuesday, trading punches and dragging off protesters in a confrontation over Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

The government has vowed to stop protesters from marching to Gaza Strip settlements marked for evacuation in August, fearing that more Israeli hard-liners at the sites would further complicate the contentious pullout.

Demonstrators said they would stay in their makeshift protest camp in the farming community of Kfar Maimon and try to march again, setting the stage for more confrontations.

Their defiance and willingness to tangle with the authorities could foreshadow difficulties awaiting the government as it tries to remove about 9,000 residents from the settlements.

The government said it was determined to carry out its “disengagement” plan, which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled more than a year ago.

“Ariel Sharon is not scared of 20,000 or 50,000 marching settlers,” Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said.

Protesters had planned a three-day march beginning Monday in the southern Israeli town of Netivot and ending at the Kissufim crossing into Gaza, 15 miles away. The government outlawed the demonstration.

In the West Bank village of Yamun, two Palestinian militants were killed Tuesday in a gun battle with soldiers, the army said.

Recent violence has increased tensions between Hamas militants and the Palestinian security services. But early today, the ruling Fatah movement and Hamas agreed to end armed clashes.