"Due to the last wave of attacks... it was decided to completely restrict Palestinian movement in the areas of Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Ramallah, with the exception of medical and humanitarian cases," the army said in a statement.

Israel swept into seven West Bank cities in June following back-to-back suicide bombings in Jerusalem, imposing curfews in the urban centers. The army began to ease slightly the closure and curfew measures in recent weeks that kept 700,000 Palestinians largely confined to their homes.

The decision to tighten restrictions followed a Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel and two shooting attacks which killed 13 people on Sunday.

"The army stresses that measures to lift restrictions on the Palestinian population will continue in any place where there is quiet," the statement said.

Stringent restrictions on Palestinian travel have been in place since the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, with Palestinians confined to their communities for extended periods as Israeli troops tried to prevent attacks on Israelis.

Palestinians trying to get to jobs and schools often use dirt roads to get around military checkpoints. The military said yesterday's announcement of a "total ban" on Palestinian traffic meant that existing blockades would be strictly enforced.

In Gaza, about 25 tanks took up positions on the main north-south road, cutting off the town of Rafah and an adjacent refugee camp from the rest of the strip. The army said it imposed the blockade to prevent attacks on Israelis.

In another development Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres held talks yesterday in Egypt with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as part of efforts to end spiraling Middle East violence, which in the past 24 hours has claimed 13 lives.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher earlier said Egypt would use the visit to make suggestions to Israel about what it should do to end the violence, including calling for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian Authority areas.

Maher was quoted by Egypt's Middle East News Agency late on Sunday as saying: "The whole world knows that Israel is blocking the doors to political moves and a political settlement."

The one-day visit to Cairo by Peres, an Israeli dove who last traveled to Egypt more than a year ago, follows talks in July between Mubarak and Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Egypt, one of only two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, has traditionally been a key mediator in talks between Israel and the Palestinians, who launched an uprising against Israeli occupation in September 2000.

(China Daily August 6, 2002)