The Israeli army said Monday it had re-imposed a total clampdown on the Gaza Strip lifted only last Thursday, following the murder of a Jewish settler in the Palestinian territory.
The settler was found dead the day after he went missing in the southern Gaza Strip, military sources told AFP Monday.
The body of Rony Tzalah, 32, was recovered from a field in the Palestinian autonomous town of Khan Younes after a massive search, reported Haaretz.
According to preliminary investigations, he had been kidnapped Sunday by three or four Palestinians who stole his car and killed him inside the vehicle before disposing of the body, said the paper.
The settler had disappeared while working in a greenhouse near the Kfar Yam settlement.
His car was later abandoned and set alight by masked men, Palestinian sources said.
Israeli cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, meanwhile, said the settler might have been killed at the order of top officials of the Palestinian Authority, according to Haaretz.
"I can assume that this was not a criminal act, but was a murder carried out against a (Palestinian) nationalist background," Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio.
"I don't know if it was (Gaza Palestinian Preventative Security chief) Mohammed Dahlan or if it was (Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser) Arafat - one thing is clear: a murder like this cannot be committed without an instruction from above." -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
