11.   Cotti said repeated Israeli closures which bar Palestinians from entering Israel to work, are hampering the Palestinian economy.

12.   He blamed the Israeli closure.

13.   Hundreds of Palestinians, chanting slogans and throwing flowers into the air, demonstrated Saturday against an Israeli closure of their villages that has curbed employment and food supplies.

14.   In later years, the force largely dealt with quelling Palestinian riots and enforcing Israeli closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip which kept Palestinians from entering Israel.

15.   In the past, the Palestinians have received donations of medicine and food from Arab countries during Israeli closures of the Palestinian areas.

16.   In this town hardest hit by the Israeli closure, a local shopkeeper who sells Christian memorabilia to tourists complained business had come to a standstill.

17.   It followed a weekly Palestinian Cabinet meeting where the Palestinian Authority urged the U.N. security council to convene an emergency session relating to the Israeli closure.

18.   Levy said he and Ikeda discussed the economic distress of the Palestinians in the wake of a six-month Israeli closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

19.   More Palestinian children forced to work by Israeli closures.

20.   On Tuesday, the Palestinian merchants association urged shopkeepers in east Jerusalem to stand outside their businesses for half an hour as a protest against the Israeli closure order.