Israel digs trenches to thwart bombers

Digging in for the long haul.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military is digging trenches around Jenin and Nablus, two West bank cities known as strongholds of Palestinian militants, according to an army magazine published this week.

The military spokesman's office could not comment on the report, but the Palestinian governors of Nablus and Jenin confirmed Sunday that ditches were being dug around their towns.

Col. Yehuda Katorza, head of the Central Command's engineering unit, was quoted by the weekly Bamachane magazine as saying the trenches are designed to keep Palestinians from driving explosives-laden vehicles from the towns to Israel.

The move was in line with previous policy, as Israel last year encircled part of the West Bank town of Jericho with trenches. But Katorza said previous efforts were ineffective because the army did not completely encircle the towns and Palestinians filled the ditches with dirt and drove over them.

The intention this time is to encircle the towns completely with larger ditches, he said, but the effort has been slowed by a lack of bulldozers.