The military told all Israelis who do not live in the Jewish settlement of Hebron to leave the town by 10:00 am (0800 GMT), informing settler leaders that after that time arrests would be made.
The parts of Hebron under army control have been declared a closed military zone in a bid to flush out hardliners who descended on the town to boost resistance to the threatened eviction of Jews squatting in an Arab market.
Hundreds of police reinforcements have been drafted to the area and a ban on non-resident Israelis entering the town center will last until Sunday.
Israeli military sources said that troops would force non-residents bent on stirring up troubles to leave "on a case to case basis".
"The deadline allows IDF [Israel Defense Force] to take anyone out who participates in violence," one source said.
"There is no massive evacuation planned for the near hours but, of course, that is subject to change according to security assessments," another added.
Despite a police presence on the streets, Jewish settlers were going about their normal business with no evidence of clashes or people being evicted.
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed zero tolerance toward Jewish families resisting eviction from a market in the flashpoint town, following weekend clashes between militant Jewish settlers and security forces.
The authorities are determined to remove nine Jewish families - around 50 people - squatting illegally in a Palestinian fruit and vegetable market.
The disturbances and military response has exposed a dispute between Israel's main Yesha settler council, which backed the exclusion of rioting youths, and local Jewish leaders in Hebron determined to maximize resistance.
"I say to my friends in Hebron that they should have done everything to get rid of those youths who are eradicating any possibility of having people listen to their very justified complaints," said Yesha chairman Bentzi Lieberman.
Hardliners and the main settler newspaper, however, clamored for the non-residents to stay and urged resistance to any planned evictions from what they regard as a sacred part of the land of Israel.
"They are nice people, idealists. I do not call on them to leave the city, no matter what. Hebron belongs to the entire nation of Israel," settler Orit Struk told army radio.
"We must not be taciturn. We need to cry out to expose the government's wicked policy towards the Jewish settlers in the Jewish community of Hebron," said settler mouthpiece Hatzofe.
"There is no justification to force them to abandon their land, which everyone agrees is an inseparable part of the Jewish people's land," it added.
In 2003, the Supreme Court backed an appeal by Palestinian traders, ordered the settlers to be evicted and the market reopened - but neither of the two court orders have yet been implemented.
The market was closed 12 years ago after Baruch Goldstein, an extremist settler, shot dead 29 Palestinians praying in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, a shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims.
Under a 1997 accord with the Palestinian Authority, Israeli troops evacuated 80 percent of the city but continue to protect the settler enclaves around the Cave of the Patriarchs.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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