Israeli police on Wednesday night arrested 250 opponents of the disengagement plan who entered a close military zone in attempts to illegally infiltrate the Gaza Strip and reach the Gush Katif settlements.

Among the detainees who set out from Kfar Maimon were a number who attempted to cut the Gaza Strip boundary fence and reach Gush Katif on foot.

They were arrested and transferred to the Be'er Sheva police station for questioning.

Settlers claimed that, despite the arrest, some 1,000 pullout foes succeeded in infiltrating into Gush Katif overnight.

Most of the anti-pullout demonstrators left their encampment at Kfar Maimon before dawn on Thursday, police told Israel Radio.

Only around 1,500 protesters were still in the area, according to the police assessment and traffic backed up leading out of Gaza. The Yesha Council had decided earlier to leave a limited amount of protesters in the area to attempt to enter the Gaza Strip.

Though some forces remained in the area to block the right-wing activists from entering the Gaza Strip, hundreds of policemen were sent home.

Southern Command GOC Major General Dan Harel said the Israel Defense Forces has reinforced its troops at the Kissufim roadblock after the settlers' threats to infiltrate the Gush Katif settlement bloc through alternate roads.

Dahlan::"Hamas is trying to carry out a military coup against the PA"

Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan said this week that Hamas is trying to carry out a military coup against the PA.

"When someone tries to take over a police station by means of a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, that is an attempted military coup," he said.

Dahlan also said that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Hamas have the same goal: destroying the PA.

"For Sharon, Hamas is the easiest enemy. With Abu Mazen it's harder for him. That's why Sharon is weakening the PA and strengthening the logic of Hamas. He says that Abu Mazen is weak? It's his job to strengthen him. He has to do something serious to strengthen the peace camp in Palestinian society. Is the security situation better today than it was four months ago? And what have you done? Nothing."

Dahlan accuses Sharon and his advisor, Dov Weissglas, of wanting to destroy the peace process through disengagement.

"If you brought General Montgomery to maintain security, he wouldn't do any better. What [Sharon] didn't succeed in doing in four years, he is demanding of Abu Mazen in six months. If you ask whether the PA can stop all the terror, the obvious answer is no. Anyone who says otherwise is lying."

Dahlan admits that Hamas is stronger today in Gaza than the PA. "I'm surprised that the PA hasn't collapsed yet," he says.

In the mantime, Hamas has said it wants to end a bout of internal Palestinian clashes after its cadre attacked the homes of a security chief and the Gaza leader of the governing Fatah faction.

One of the main Hamas leaders in Gaza on Wednesday said it was imperative that the factions reserved their fire for their common enemy, Israel.

"The Hamas movement announces an end to all tension and threats in the street," Ismail Haniya told reporters.

"We must conserve our weapons for use only against the occupation... Hamas is not the enemy of the PA (Palestinian Authority) and Fatah," he added.

Haniya confirmed that the movement was working with Fatah leaders to end the tension and remove from the streets armed men from both factions.

Prisoner Affairs Minister Sufian Abu Zaydah, a senior member of Fatah who hails from northern Gaza, said both movements had agreed to "cease all activity that would increase tension between the two sides."

"These painful incidents have produced no winners, only losers," he said after the agreement.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia also argued that Israel was the only beneficiary of the internal divisions.

"I believe that the Israelis are pushing us towards an internal war. We must protect ourselves from each other and be aware of these dangers," he said in the West Bank.

"We regret what has happened in Gaza. Hamas is not our enemy. It is the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority to protect all of us and there must be universal respect for the law."

Prisoner Affairs Minister Sufian Abu Zaydah, a senior member of Fatah who hails from northern Gaza, said both movements had agreed to "cease all activity that would increase tension between the two sides."

Settlers stab a child to death near Nablus

Palestinian medical source in Qaryout village, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, reported on Wednesday evening, that an extremist settlers group stabbed a child to death.

The settlers attacked Yazan Mohammad Mousa, 13 years old, and repeatedly stabbed him, the source stated.

Yazan was with another child he they were attacked. The second child managed to escape unharmed.

A source at a clinic in the neighboring village of Qabalan said that the child died of his wounds at the clinic in spite of extensive efforts to save his life.

The Israeli police believe that the assailants are from Shilu settlement, adjacent to the village.

The Isrraeli police initiated a probe in the incident, and claimed that the child was involved in a fight with settler youths.

PHOTO CAPTION

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner a spiritual leader of the settlers movement and an opponent to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, speaks to his people during a mass demonstration in Kfar Maimon July 20, 2005. (REUTERS)