JERUSALEM Ñ Israel's military has reentered major West Bank cities
to foil what officials term are plans to continue launching suicide attacks in the
Jewish state.
Military sources said Israeli troops and armored vehicles entered
Kalkilya and Nablus. In Nablus, troops, supported by tanks and engineering
units, entered the Nablus-area refugee camp of Balata and searched for
militants and weapons.
Palestinians offered light resistance, detonating bombs and firing light
arms. Israeli soldiers were not reported injured in Friday's operation.
One of the Palestinians arrested was Issam Abu Bakr, the chief of Fatah
forces in Nablus. Military sources said the troops planned to stay several
days in Balata.
Another Israeli incursion was reported in Kalkilya, the West Bank city
regarded as a launching pad for Palestinian suicide bombings in the Jewish
state. The sources said a combined force of military reservices and border
police searched for insurgents and weapons in Kalkilya overnight Friday.
The raid is the latest of several Israeli military operations in West
Bank cities. The military has called for a large-scale operation to flush
out militants and expel Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat amid
an escalation of Palestinian attacks. On Friday, Israeli forces killed a
Palestinian militant who tried to enter the Jewish settlement of Shavei
Shomron in the northern West Bank.
But the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has turned down the
military's appeal. Officials said Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer prefer pinpoint operations.
Over the weekend, CIA director George Tenet and U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State William Burns are expected to arrive in the Middle East and begin
talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He will be joined by Osama El
Baz, the diplomatic adviser of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Earlier, Israeli authorities arrested a Palestinian man and his Jewish
wife suspected of transporting the Palestinian suicide bomber who blew
himself up in Rishon LeZion earlier this month. Two people were killed and
51 were injured in the attack. The couple lived in the Dehaishe refugee camp
south of Bethlehem.