MIDDLE EAST: Israeli paratroopers backed by dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles thrust into the West Bank town of Nablus before dawn yesterday. The raid began two days after a Palestinian killed five Israelis in a kibbutz, and in the midst of the latest visit by a US envoy.
Troops arrested 35 Palestinians as they conducted house-to-house searches in the warren of narrow streets that make up the city's kasbah. There were sporadic gunfights, but no injuries.
The Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Shaul Mofaz, said the operation was "not limited by time". Security sources said most of the attacks against Israelis in recent weeks had emanated from Nablus, and the raid was aimed largely at the Hamas group.
The incursion into Nablus was the most extensive since Israel invaded the city in April, and likely means that residents will be confined to their homes for the next few weeks as the army hunts for militants.
Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, condemned the raid as a "new war crime". Mr Arafat responded to the assertion of the new Foreign Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, that if elected prime minister his "first step" would be to expel the Palestinian leader. "Netanyahu has to remember that I am Yasser Arafat and that this is my land and the land of my great-great-grandfathers."
In Jericho, Palestinian officials met the US envoy, Mr David Satterfield, who is trying to promote a peace plan backed by the Quartet - the US, Russia, UN and EU - which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. The Palestinians insisted there was no basis to Israeli press reports yesterday that the "road map", as the plan has been called, had been put on hold until after the Israeli elections next January 28th.
"Contrary to what the Israelis are saying, Mr Satterfield informed us that the American administration will complete work on the road map and declare it by the middle of next month," said cabinet minister Mr Saeb Erekat.
"We have emphasised once more the importance of bringing this terrible violence to a close, so that the ability of all the parties to restore the political process and dialogue can be moved forward," Mr Satterfield said.