Troops re-enter Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM - Israeli troops swept back into Bethlehem yesterday and kept a military grip on another West Bank city, Qalqilya, in raids that followed a new wave of Palestinian suicide bomb attacks.

Witnesses and Palestinian security sources said dozens of Jeeps and armoured troop carriers entered Bethlehem and surrounding villages before dawn, about 24 hours after the Army ended an earlier raid in the area just south of Jerusalem.

An Israeli military source said troops entered Manger Square at the heart of Bethlehem to prevent militants taking refuge in the Church of the Nativity, built on the site revered by Christians as the place where Jesus was born.

Tensions have risen after four Palestinian suicide bomb attacks last week and the Israeli raids, denting hopes of world leaders reviving peacemaking after 20 months of conflict since the Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation.

The Army said the new raids were designed to "safeguard the gains" of a more than month-long offensive in the West Bank which it said was intended to root out militants.

But Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said such raids could delay reforms of his Palestinian Authority which are sought by Israel and world leaders.

Arafat, who last week promised legislative and presidential elections by next (northern) winter, has demanded that Israel "finish quickly the siege of all our cities and towns in the West Bank and Gaza" to facilitate preparations for the voting.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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