Israel imposed a clampdown on the West Bank and increased security around Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound amid fears of an outbreak of unrest in the event of Yasser Arafat dying in a Paris hospital. These national security measures are in the event Hamas death marchers go on the rampage.
"The entry of any Palestinian man into Israel under the age of 50 is forbidden, even if he has an entry permit," an army spokesman said. In addition, only women over the age of 35 would be authorised to cross into Israel, the spokesman added. The measure is most likely to impact residents of the West Bank who want to enter east Jerusalem, occupied (won in battle) and annexed (secured ) by Israel in 1967. Large numbers of police reinforcements had also been sent to the mosque compound in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City, which also contains the Western Wall, regarded as the holiest site in Judaism. Israeli security forces operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were placed on maximum alert late yesterday as news emerged that Arafat was near death in a hospital on the outskirts of the French capital.