The Israeli army surrounded a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem this morning, after forces detained more than 100 people in West Bank raids on Nablus and Tulkarm.
Three Israeli tanks and five troop carriers encircled Bethlehem's Deheisheh refugee camp, Palestinian security sources said. At least three suicide bombers involved in recent attacks have come from the camp, six miles south of Jerusalem.
Israeli military sources said the operation in the Palestinian-ruled town of Bethlehem - from which troops pulled out on Thursday after occupying parts of it for three days - was a "patrol," routinely undertaken after a bomb alert.
In more sweeps for Palestinian militants, Israeli forces pushed into the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tulkarm yesterday, overshadowing a new flurry of peace diplomacy.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, speaking before word in the evening of renewed army operations in Tulkarm, said Israel's latest thrust into West Bank cities was aimed at "bringing our people to their knees."
"It's as if they are saying to the world that we do not want to reach any agreement," he told reporters in Ramallah.
Israeli army spokesman Brigadier Ron Kitrey told Army Radio troops were trying to pre-empt suicide bomber runs into Israel.
"It is very difficult to capture (them) at the entrance to (Israeli) cities, buses and restaurants and easier to try to catch them at their point of departure," he said.
The latest military action in Nablus and its Balata refugee camp, where troops shot and wounded one Palestinian, and Tulkarm coincided with fresh diplomacy to try to defuse more than 20 months of violence and a new wave of suicide bombings in Israel.
William Burns, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, had talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a day after meeting Mr Arafat in the West Bank.
"The prime minister re-emphasized Israel's position that progress in the (peace) process is conditional on the cessation of terror and incitement and on comprehensive reforms in the Palestinian Authority," Mr Sharon's office said in a statement.