Israeli army pushes into Bethlehem, raids refugee camp

3.00pm

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - The Israeli army has advanced into more Palestinian self-rule areas of the West Bank in a campaign against suicide bombers and a top Palestinian security official said his compound was under siege.

Witnesses said Israeli armour pushed into the centre of Bethlehem hours after sweeping into the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm in what Israel called a broadening sweep for Palestinian suicide attackers, militants and weaponry.

Israeli tanks ground to a halt a few hundred metres from the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, and forces also raided Bethlehem's Deheisheh refugee camp.

Palestinians responsible for some recent suicide bombings have come from Deheisheh, including one who killed nine people in Jerusalem in March and one who blew himself up in his car at a Jerusalem police checkpoint on Monday, killing a policeman.

Israeli troops were conducting house-to-house searches in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Qalqilya and Tulkarm and forces were massing outside Nablus, witnesses said.

The latest military moves marked an expansion of the drive Israel began on Friday when it sent troops and tanks into Ramallah to besiege Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in response to a suicide bombing which killed 22 people during a religious Passover feast on Wednesday.

Jibril al-Rajoub, the Palestinian Preventive security chief in the West Bank, said the Israeli army broke into his headquarters in Beitunia, west of Ramallah, early on Tuesday (local time).

Rajoub told Reuters by telephone that tanks and armour entered the compound where 400 Palestinians were sheltering.

Rajoub, who was not inside the compound, said the premises were being targeted by tanks and helicopter machineguns.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment. An Israeli security source had said Israel was seeking to arrest some 50 militants who were being hidden in Rajoub's headquarters, including some who topped Israel's most-wanted list.

Israel Radio said the army had cut off electricity to Rajoub's headquarters and was calling on those inside to surrender, threatening to storm the compound if they did not.

At least 1132 Palestinians and 399 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian revolt against Israel occupation began in September 2000 after peace negotiations stalled.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian bomber detonated his load on Monday after police halted his car at a checkpoint, killing a policeman who had opened the door of the car to search it.

Israel has made clear it plans to push ahead with a mission to root out militants targeting Israel from West Bank and Gaza Strip territory handed to Palestinian self-rule under interim peace deals in the 1990s, despite growing international concern.

"We are now in a state of war ...We are not going to stop it until we reach our goals and see that terrorism has stopped," Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said in Jerusalem.

The Israeli military thrust has been accompanied by escalating violence in the uprising against continued Israeli occupation in much of the West Bank and parts of the Gaza Strip that began after talks on a final peace accord deadlocked.

The army said it had arrested more than 700 people in Ramallah, where a defiant Arafat remained at his headquarters.

"In the next few days, the next few weeks, we will speak to him (Arafat) in the language he knows -- not just him but all who support terror. Make no mistake -- whoever has a hand in terrorism is going to be caught," Sheetrit said.

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey said the army planned to do as thorough a job as possible in the time it had. "Every place that we know or suspect there is terror, we will be there," he said.

Iranian-backed Hizbollah guerrillas fired a Katyusha rocket into Israel from Lebanon early on Tuesday, Israeli security sources said. It was the first reported Katyusha strike by Hizbollah guerrillas on Israeli territory since the Israeli army withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, ending a 22-year occupation.

The attack fuelled concern in Israel that the Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas may be trying to open a second front with Israel while its forces are busy in the Palestinian territories.

Dozens of people have been killed or wounded in clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank in the past four days. Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank took the law into their own hands on Monday, killing 11 compatriots they accused of collaborating with Israel.

Israel has been hit with five suicide bombings since the Jewish Passover holiday began on Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Israel to withdraw immediately from Palestinian lands and Arafat's compound.

Briefing the Security Council two days after it adopted a resolution demanding Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian towns, Annan said on Monday he feared "much worse is to come if the escalation on both sides is allowed to continue".

The United States appealed for Israeli restraint and called on Arafat to act now to end a wave of attacks against Israelis.

Islamic leaders expressed fury at Israel's four-day-old siege of Arafat's headquarters and a Jordanian official said Amman might expel Israeli Ambassador David Dadon in protest.

- REUTERS

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