THE MIDDLE EAST: For the first time since handing over control of West Bank cities to Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in 1995, Israel yesterday recaptured an entire city, sending a large contingent of troops into all parts of Tulkarm, conducting house-to-house searches and arresting alleged militants.
Palestinian officials said one man was killed, another critically wounded and that a second man,a Palestinan security official, was killed in Ramallah.
The seizure of Tulkarm, combined with Israel's military presence in Ramallah, saw Mr Arafat drawing comparisons with Israel's successful effort to oust him from Lebanon in 1982. "This is not the first time and will not be the last time they place us under siege. We are here to stay and will not succumb." He said an independent state of Palestine would be established with al-Quds al-Sharif [East Jerusalem\] its capital.
Israeli officials claimed that the unprecedented onslaught - part of a marked escalation since a gunman from the military wing of Mr Arafat's Fatah faction shot dead six Israelis at a birthday party last Thursday - was designed to thwart further attacks, rather than to bring down Mr Arafat or his Authority. "When Israel has completed its mission [in Tulkarm\]," said a spokesman for the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, "it will be able to withdraw to its previous positions."
Mr Sharon has indicated that he does not intend to lift the siege on Mr Arafat for the foreseeable future. Aides to Mr Arafat are appealing to the UN Security Council to intervene. Dozens of Israeli tanks rolled into Tulkarm before dawn. Israel said it had made some 20 arrests.
The former US president, Mr Bill Clinton, on a private visit, warned Israel against bringing down Mr Arafat. While Mr Clinton said he was baffled that the Palestinian rejected his bridging proposals for a peace accord in 2000, he added that he believed only Mr Arafat had the capacity "to implement an agreement should one be reached".