The new measures also affect long-time foreigners residing in the West Bank such as college professors, NGO employees, religious figures and naturalised spouses of Palestinian residents in the West Bank.

Adel Samara is a noted Palestinian economist residing in Ramallah. His American wife wants to go the US for a visit. However, because she is married to a Palestinian, she is worried that the Israeli authorities wouldn't allow her to return to her family once she left the West Bank.

"I really dont know why they are doing this to us. I am sure there is a special think-tank in Israel specialised in devising and inventing creative ways to make us suffer," said Samara.

Right to bar

Samara believes Israeli military authorities were targeting ordinary people, most of whom are not politicised and leading a normal lives with their families and friends.

"There are hundreds of cases. You see, I am barred from travelling abroad for so-called security reasons and my wife won't be allowed to return to Ramallah if she left the West Bank even for a brief visit to Jordan next door."

Aljazeera.net tried repeatedly to get the Israeli army spokespersons to clarify policy with regard to foreigners staying in or wanting to enter the West Bank.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli interior ministry said Israel had the right to bar whoever it wanted from entering the "territories".

She said: "Those wishing to enter must apply for a permit and their application could be either accepted or rejected."

Academics targeted

According to sources at the Bir Zeit University (BZU) in the West Bank, Israeli measures are also targeting academics and lecturers working at Palestinian universities, whether foreigners or Palestinians carrying foreign passports.

At least two professors and an administration official at BZU have been barred from returning to the West Bank without any explanation.

One of the three is Sumaydi Abbas, who holds Swedish citizenship. Aljazeera.net could not locate Abbas, but Ghassan Andouni, public relations officer at BZU, said the Israeli military authorities refused to allow the Palestinian professor to return "because he didn't have residency rights".

"You see, they wouldn't even give him a tourist visa to enter his own country, his own homeland. They view Palestine, including the West Bank, as Israeli territory and us as foreigners."

Bahjat Tayyem, who holds US citizenship and teaches at the BZU political science department, was recently turned back at the Jordan border while trying to enter the West Bank at the Allenby Border crossing.

"I think Israel wants to effect a total siege on us, a total isolation. They are not content with physical isolation which this evil concrete wall embodies," said Anduni.

Andouni accused the Israeli military administration of trying to "empty the West Bank of foreigners", especially those working at NGOs as well as peace activists.

"They want to reduce our towns and villages to inaccessible detention camps and large open-air prisons until we succumb to their bullying or implode from within."

Israeli authorities have also barred international peace activists which they consider sympathetic to the Palestinians from entering the West Bank.

Peace activists

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which brings to the West Bank peace activists from around the world to encourage Palestinians to adopt non-violent means in their struggle against the Israeli occupation, seems to have been blacklisted.

ISM activists have been for years holding peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins against Israeli repression of Palestinians, including the construction of the separation wall and the bulldozing of Palestinian groves and farms.

Some Israeli officials, especially within the foreign ministry, believe ISM activities have been instrumental in getting a British union of university teachers and a Canadian workers' union to boycott Israel.

Last week, Israeli interior ministry authorities at the Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv incarcerated Paul Larudee, an American peace activist, barring him from entering Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories.

According to Larudee's lawyer, Gabi Lasky, the Israeli authorities gave no explanation why her client was incarcerated.

However, according to the Jerusalem Post, Larudee's name appeared on a Shin Bet [Israel's main domestic intelligence agency]-compiled blacklist of foreigners identifying with the Palestinian struggle.

Danger to state

The paper quoted unnamed Israeli security officials as saying that Larudee was an ISM leader who took part in anti-Israeli demonstrations during the Israeli army assault on the West Bank between 2002 and 2004.

"This person is a danger to the state. He is one of the ISM leaders who had been involved in anti-Israeli activities and therefore will not be allowed into the country," the security official was quoted as saying.

Lasky said Larudee visited Israel and the occupied territories four times and had never been arrested. She dismissed the security official's explanation as "dubious".

"To blacklist non-violent peace activists as 'person non grata' raises questions regarding the sincerity of Israel's intentions to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians through dialogue and non-violence," an ISM statement given to Aljazeera.net said.

"Yassin and Rantisi are waiting for you, Haneya, if you implement the same stance of liquidating Jews, indiscriminate firing and suicide terror attacks aimed at paralyzing Israeli society anew," Hanegbi was quoted as saying.

Hanegbi, also chairman of the influential Knesset (Parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, made the remarks after Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Sunday night turned down a proposal to step up Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip in response to the recent surge of rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza onto Israel.

"Confrontation between Israel and Hamas is inevitable," said Hanegbi, hinting that the delay in ordering an offensive may be short-lived and linked to diplomatic considerations, according to the report.

When talking about the possibility of a major campaign which could also include ground attacks in the Gaza Strip, Hanegbi said, "These ideas are still on the table."

Israel quit the entire Gaza Strip last summer.

Israel worries that Hamas, which called off a 16-month-old ceasefire with the Jewish state on Friday, might further step up rocket attacks and even carry out possible suicide bomb attacks inside Israel.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, formally calls for Israel's destruct and refuses to renounce violence, but it had largely abided by the truce since agreeing on the deal in March 2005.

The Islamic group took the reins of the Palestinian government in late March after a sweeping January election victory.

Hamas has claimed firing more than 15 rockets onto Israel over the weekend.

Hamas spokesman in Gaza Sami Abu Zuhri read at a press conference from a joint statement signed by jailed senior Hamas leader Abdel Khaleq al-Natsha and Jihad leader Bassam al-Sa'di that the two would no longer back the proposal seeking Palestinian statehood.

The statement also said that the two leaders' retreat from the proposal was due to "some attempts by certain people to try to utilize the proposal in an unacceptable way and take advantage of the absence of the prisoners."

The jailed Hamas and Jihad leaders, both of whom helped draft the proposal along with leaders from several other factions including Fatah, also slammed President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to call for a referendum on the proposal on July 26.

The proposal espouses the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on land seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and calls for a Palestinian national unity government.

It is widely seen as implicitly recognizing Israel.

Both Hamas and Jihad call for Israel's destruction and Hamas, which took the reins of the Palestinian government in late March, has so far refused to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements.

Hamas and Jihad leaderships have rejected the proposal and opposed holding the referendum.

The new bloodshed came as Israel tried to contain the fallout from the death of eight Palestinian civilians in an explosion on a beach in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday -- an incident that prompted Hamas to end an 18-month truce.

Israel may target Hamas political leaders if they are found to be implicated in rocket attacks, Defence Minister Amir Peretz was quoted as saying by Israeli television Sunday.

Abbas, a moderate from the formerly dominant
Fatah faction, announced Saturday a first-ever Palestinian referendum would be held on July 26, prompting accusations from Hamas that he was engineering a coup against its government formed after a landslide election win in January.

Voters are being asked to approve calls for an independent Palestinian state on land conquered in 1967, the creation of a national unity government and an end to attacks within Israel.

However the prospect of Hamas ending attacks seemed remote with its armed wing claiming to have fired nine missiles into southern Israel, even before two of its fighters were killed in an air raid in northern Gaza and another targeted a Hamas vehicle in Gaza City, wounding three people.

Islamic Jihad, Hamas and a radical Fatah offshoot, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, all claimed responsibility for a series of early morning rocket attacks on southern Israel.

One landed on a house in Sderot, the home town of Peretz, leaving the owner seriously injured.

Against the background of rising violence, a second successive evening of talks between Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya failed to make any headway on the proposed referendum.

The two agreed to meet again on Monday, Hamas Interior Minister Said Siam told journalists after the talks, adding that Abbas would also meet Palestinian armed groups, including Islamic Jihad, the same day.

Abbas has been at the forefront of the condemnation of the beach killings which have seriously embarrassed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as he embarked on his first trip to Europe.

Speaking at an Israeli cabinet meeting ahead of his departure to London, Olmert voiced regret for "the death of innocent civilians" and promised that the results of an inquiry would be made public.

But he also promised to "deal" with Hamas, saying it had been involved in attacks for some time.

Israeli public television reported late Sunday that the Jewish state may launch raids targeting Hamas political leaders if they are found to be implicated in rocket attacks.

A TV report said Defence Minister Peretz and chief of staff General Dan Halutz would take a formal decision to do so if Hamas does not heed the warning.

"We have many means at our disposal, and will use them against any element implicated in the firing (of rockets), at both the planning level and in carrying them out," the report quoted Peretz as saying.

The defence ministry spokesman in Tel Aviv could not be contacted for further comment.

Meanwhile medical sources said a 35-year-old Palestinian man from Israeli-controlled east Jerusalem was shot dead and two other people wounded Sunday evening in his car at a road barrier near Atarot airport in the north of the city.

Israeli army radio said the incident was related to criminal activity between Palestinians.

Now back at home in Kansas, the driver relies heavily on anti-depressant drugs and his wife's health insurance to pay the medical bills.

A local doctor diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but Halliburton's insurer refuses to pay for treatment. He can no longer work as a driver because of the drugs he takes. "I feel betrayed," he said.

After the Vietnam War, US veterans had difficulty claiming compensation for PTSD but now it is an affliction that the US military takes seriously.

Colonel Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatry consultant to the US Army Surgeon General, said special units had been set up in Iraq to counter post-traumatic stress and more than 200 "mental health professionals" work with the 130,000 US troops in the strife-torn country.

"We want to identify (cases) and treat them before it becomes chronic," Ritchie told AFP. Troops are even monitored for three-to-six months after their return to the United States.

According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 15-17 percent of soldiers come back from Iraq suffering from PTSD.

At the moment there are an estimated 30,000-35,000 US civilians in Iraq working for companies like Halliburton providing transportation, cleaning, catering and other services for the military and other contractors.

In Iraq, drivers like Meredith faced the daily threat of insurgent attacks, roadside bombs and snipers. Hundreds of contractors for Halliburton and other companies have been killed in the country since the US-led invasion in 2003.

"In Iraq, no place is safe. They can never relax," said Dean Kilpatrick, a professor of clinical psychology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Foreign civilian workers are "always in a stress situation".

Kilpatrick, who has been studying stress disorder for 25 years, said that the army weeds out characters that might not be able to stand a tour of Iraq, while civilian companies take anyone.

Gary Pitts, a lawyer in Houston, Texas, represents about 100 American civilians who have come back from Iraq with PTSD and are now launching legal action for compensation.

He said that insurance companies refuse to pay for victims even when they are diagnosed by independent doctors. "Insurance companies don't like to spend money," said Pitts.

A truck driver in the United States earns about 35,000 dollars a year, while in Iraq that goes up to 70,000-90,000 dollars for working 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Yes, it is a good way to save money, but they also do it also for patriotism reasons because often they are too old to be soldiers," said Pitts.

Charles Figley, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, said that civilians are more at risk of PTSD than soldiers because they recieve less training.

"Companies like Halliburton are only business-oriented, there is no adequate mental health support," he said in an interview.

Halliburton declined requests for an interview.

Thousands of families remain trapped in the city, those who have fled say. Many can't afford to leave or lack transportation, whereas other families have decided to wait for their children to finish final examinations at school before escaping.

"The situation is catastrophic. No services, no electricity, no water," said Sheik Fassal Gaood, the former governor of Al Anbar province, whose capital is Ramadi.

"People in Ramadi are caught between two plagues: the vicious, armed insurgents and the American and Iraqi troops."

Residents have been particularly unnerved by the recent arrival of 1,500 U.S. troops sent to reinforce the forces already stationed at the city. Street battles between troops and insurgents have been raging for months, but the troops' deployment left residents bracing for a mass offensive to take the town back from insurgents.

"It is becoming hell up there," said Mohammed Fahdawi, a 42-year-old contractor who packed up his four children and fled to Baghdad two weeks ago. "It is unbelievable: The Americans seem to have brought all of their troops to Ramadi."

The fearful city is haunted by memories of the battles that raged in nearby Fallouja in 2004. Determined to purge that city of insurgents, U.S. Marine and Army units lined up to the north and pushed south through the heart of Fallouja. They cleared one neighborhood after another in intense, constant street fighting. By the time the sweep was over, the town was largely destroyed.

Military officials have insisted that the deployment of the additional troops did not presage a Fallouja-style offensive.

"Moving this force will allow tribal leaders and government officials to go about the very difficult task of taking back their towns from the criminal elements," said Army Maj. J. Todd Breasseale, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.

A sprawling agricultural and smuggling hub on the banks of the Euphrates, Ramadi has long been one of the U.S. military's stickiest problems. The largest city in Sunni-dominated Al Anbar province, Ramadi has degenerated into a haven for insurgents. Even now, when U.S. forces are working to scale back their presence throughout Iraq, daily combat continues to roil the city.

The death last week of Jordanian-born terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi may have dealt a psychological blow to the Iraq insurgency. But it is not expected to dent the destabilizing power of anti-American guerrillas in Al Anbar.

The U.S. military said that, based on the number of fighters killed or captured by American troops, more foreign fighters crossed into Iraq in May than the previous month. At least 64 foreign guerrillas were killed or caught by U.S. troops last month; most of them made their way through Al Anbar province.

"In general, Anbar is controlled by terrorist groups," said Sheik Yaseen Gaood, deputy minister of the Interior overseeing the western provinces. "The Anbar government has no authority. The ministries of Interior and Defense have no influence there."

The U.S. military was bracing for an increase in attacks on civilians and American and Iraqi forces in the wake of Zarqawi's death, said Col. John L. Gronski, the commander of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 2nd Brigade, in charge of security in Ramadi.

"They go where we are not and they carry out very brutal attacks," Gronski said.

The governor of Al Anbar recently asked the U.S. military for help in taming the foreign fighters, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the chief military spokesman in Iraq, said Saturday.

"We are doing very focused efforts," said Caldwell, who refused to elaborate.

Bavarian state interior minister Guenther Beckstein said the demonstration was not targeted against the Iranian team or the Iranian people but against "a man who has placed himself outside civilization".

"A criminal like Ahmadinejad is not welcome (in Germany)," he said.

"Let us show that Bavaria and Germany as well as the entire Western world stand firmly by Israel and our Jewish fellow citizens."

Police said the event went off without incident.

Ahmadinejad has been widely condemned for describing the Holocaust as a "myth" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map".

He has said he would like to attend the football extravaganza running through July 9 but has made no firm plans. A source close to him said he would be watching Sunday's game on television in his office in Tehran.

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Aliabadi was granted a German visa and visited the Iranian team in Nuremberg Saturday ahead of their first World Cup match Sunday.

Michel Friedman, a television presenter and high-profile member of Germany's Jewish community, told the rally it was scandalous that Aliabadi had been allowed to enter the country.

Earlier, police broke up a pro-Iranian rally by neo-Nazis in Nuremberg, a former Nazi stronghold.

The 16 men and women there were dressed in Iranian jerseys, hoisting Iranian flags and distributing flyers demanding that the demonstration against Ahmadinejad be banned, police spokesman Peter Groesch.

Amid the controversy, Iran coach Branko Ivankovic told reporters Saturday to stop asking him about politics.

"These political questions are not for me. I think it's not for me and it's not for people here. Please just ask about my team against Mexico," said the Croatian.