Israelis raid West Bank town

JENIN - Israeli tanks and bulldozers rumbled into this West Bank town yesterday and destroyed a police headquarters.

It was the deepest military thrust into Palestinian territory in 10 months of violence.

Palestinian witnesses said the tanks fired as they entered Jenin and heavy fighting erupted. The tanks halted at the Governor's offices in the northern part of town, razed the nearby police building and began withdrawing three hours later.

The Army denied returning fire and said the raid responded to a wave of bombings, some of which were launched from Jenin.

The show of force was also intended to persuade Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to do more to end the bloodshed.

Palestinian leaders condemned the attack, the deepest push into territory they control since they signed the interim Oslo peace accords with Israel in 1993.

They appealed to the United Nations Security Council for international protection.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said of the incursion: "This is a declaration of war."

Gunbattles later flared south of Jerusalem in the West Bank town of Bethlehem and between nearby Beit Jala and the Jewish settlement of Gilo, which Israelis regard as a neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

Several hundred protesters took to the streets in Tulkarm and Kalkilya, towns south of Jenin.

The violence dealt a new blow to hopes of ending bloodshed in which almost 680 people have been killed, including more than 500 Palestinians and about 150 Israelis, since last September.

Machinegun fire echoed though the night as people rushed to defend Jenin, which was handed over to Palestinian rule in 1995 under the Oslo accords.

At least four Palestinian security officers were hurt, Palestinian security sources said, before the tanks started to withdraw.

A senior Palestinian security official, Colonel Abu el-Fatah, said that 50 tanks and armoured vehicles took part in the raid. Four jets and six helicopters firing flares flew overhead.

The soldiers remained in armoured vehicles throughout the raid while activists ran through the streets with megaphones calling for people with guns to defend the town, he said.

"They were met with fierce resistance ... because of the heavy and intensive firing from Palestinian gunmen everywhere."

It was the first time the Army had penetrated the heart of a Palestinian-ruled town since the Palestinian uprising began in September after peace talks became deadlocked.

The Army said the raid was in response to "terror attacks". They include a suicide bombing which killed 15 people and the bomber in Jerusalem last Friday, and a similar attack which wounded 15 Israelis near Haifa on Monday.

"During the operation, Israeli forces along with engineering equipment and bulldozers, protected by armoured tanks, entered a Palestinian-ruled area to destroy the building," the Army said.

"The soldiers refrained from returning fire in consideration for the Palestinian population in the area."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben-Ari said the action was "quite measured and quite moderate".

- REUTERS

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