Israeli troops raided a West Bank refugee camp Monday and rounded up about 400 Palestinians, as CIA chief George Tenet was en route to the West Bank for talks on restructuring the Palestinian security services.
In Israel's Cabinet, meanwhile, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon clashed with the head of the Shin Bet security services, Avi Dichter, over army tactics, media reports said. Dichter told ministers Sunday that Israeli troops should remain in Palestinian areas until a buffer zone between Israel and the West Bank has been built. Sharon said Israel's policy of quick incursions into Palestinian towns would continue.
In Monday's raid, tanks surrounded the Ain Beit Ilma refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, as jeeps and armored personnel carriers drove through the main street. Troops using loudspeakers called on all males between the ages of 15 and 50 to come out of their homes. About 400 men were taken away in four buses and two trucks to be questioned at a nearby army base, witnesses said.
The army has been searching for militants in Nablus and another nearby refugee camp, Balata, for the past three days. On Sunday, troops blew up two houses where bomb laboratories were discovered, the army said.
Armored vehicles also entered the West Bank city of Qalqilya on Monday and imposed a curfew, witnesses said. Troops arrested four suspected militants at a checkpoint outside the city and three others at the West Bank town of El Bireh.
In recent weeks, Israeli troops have been entering West Bank towns and villages, usually for short periods, to arrest suspected militants. But the sweep through Nablus was a larger operation with dozens of armored vehicles involved.
The searches came as Tenet was en route to the region for talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat about reforming Palestinian security organizations. The United States has demanded that Arafat's regime become more democratic and that the number of Palestinian security agencies be sharply reduced.
Sharon was expected to meet Tenet on Monday evening, a spokesman said.
Arafat on Sunday offered Cabinet posts to Hamas and other militant groups involved in suicide attacks against Israelis as part of a government reshuffle he plans to announce in coming days, Palestinians said.
While three other radical groups have turned down the Palestinian leader's offer, saying they don't want to belong to a government that is willing to negotiate with Israel, Hamas is still weighing the proposal, the group said.
It would mark the first time in his eight years as chairman of the Palestinian Authority that Arafat formally brought Hamas into government - a move likely to be strongly opposed by Israel and the United States, which both regard Hamas as a terrorist group.
"We are still consulting with our colleagues inside and outside the homeland and our final response will be declared before the end of this week," Hamas spokesman Ismail Hania said of Arafat's proposal.
Of the more than 60 suicide attacks by Palestinians in the current Mideast conflict, Hamas' military wing has carried out some of the deadliest. The group has rejected Arafat's call to halt them.
After 20 months of fighting that has left Palestinian institutions and their economy in a shambles, Arafat has come under strong pressure to restructure the Palestinian government. But his definition of reform is likely to differ sharply from what his critics, including the United States and Israel, hope to see.
"The question is whether the Palestinians are taking this seriously," said Danny Seaman, an Israeli government spokesman. Referring to an alliance with Hamas, Seaman said, "If this is the direction that Arafat takes, he shouldn't be surprised at the attitude that Israel takes in response."
In Israel, a Hamas-Arafat alliance would be interpreted as an indication that the Palestinians are determined to continue the violent conflict.
However, from Arafat's perspective, having radical groups inside the government could also make them easier to control.
The Islamic Jihad and two secular leftist groups - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - have declared their refusal to be in the government following offers by Arafat.
Western diplomats have descended on the region in recent days, and all have stressed the importance of Palestinian reforms. But their definition places a heavy emphasis on revamping the security services to prevent attacks against Israel.
Tenet held talks Sunday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the first stop on a six-nation Mideast tour to gauge Arab support for changes in the Palestinian Authority.
American and European diplomats are also pushing to organize an international conference on the Mideast crisis, possibly in the latter part of July, but the ongoing fighting is making it difficult to set an agenda, officials said.
(China Daily June 4, 2002)
