TEL AVIV Ñ Israel is said to be preparing for a long military
deployment in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, regarded as a major
launching pad for Palestinian suicide attacks.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the military will stay in Nablus for
far
longer than the recent deployment in Jenin. The military remained three
weeks in the northern West Bank city.
"We are preparing for many weeks," Sharon said during a visit to Nablus
on Thursday.
About 30 tanks and armored personnel carriers are helping Israeli troops
conduct house-to-house searches for suspected Palestinian insurgents in
Nablus and surrounding villages. More than 50 Palestinans have been
detained, about half of them overnight Friday.
On Thursday, Israeli special forces captured Fatah insurgent Mohammed
Nayfeh in the town of Shweike north of Tulkarm. The 24-year-old Nayfeh was
said to have planned the attack in which five people were killed in a
northern Israeli kibbutz on Monday.
Fatah has also been working to recruit Israeli Arabs for suicide
missions. Israeli authorities have been interrogating an Arab teenager from
Taibeh suspected of planning to blow himself up in Israel.
Authorities said that in August the Israeli youngster visited the West
Bank city of Kalkilya and expressed interest in carrying out a suicide
attack. The young man was directed to Fatah commander Ahmed Aldava and was
told he would conduct an operation for the Fatah-led Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades.
On Thursday, Egyptian security chief Amr Suleiman held talks with
Israeli leaders. Israeli government sources said Suleiman urged Israel to
end assassinations of Palestinian insurgency leaders and asserted that Hamas
had agreed to suspend suicide missions against Israel. Earlier, Hamas
asserted that it had rejected such a demand during talks with Fatah in
Cairo.
