The Israeli army's search-and-arrest sweep of Nablus city and Balata refugee camp entered its fourth day on Monday.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director, George Tenet was to arrive in Israel in the evening and meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli security sources said.
Sharon is to tell Tenet that reforms in the Palestinian Authority must take place without PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, Haaretz reported. An Israeli government source has said that Sharon will tell the CIA director that "cosmetic" reforms in the Palestinian Authority would not be sufficient, and there is no chance for any successful reform as long as the financial and security control in the PA is held by its chairman.
Tenet will also hold separate meetings with the Israeli Defense Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, and with Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy, his official host for the visit.
On the ground, tensions remained high as the Israeli army kept its grip on Nablus and adjacent Balata refugee camp. The Israeli army, which moved in on Friday, said it was reacting to a spate of suicide bombings and fears more were on the way.
Israeli troops entered a Nablus-area refugee camp Monday morning, briefly detaining hundreds of Palestinian men for questioning, eye-witnesses said. Troops also imposed a curfew on the northern West Bank city of Qalqilyah.
According to the witnesses, tanks surrounded the Ain Bet-el Ma'a refugee camp, and jeeps and armored personnel carriers entered the main street. Soldiers using loudspeakers called on all males between the ages of 15 and 50 to come out of their homes. The men were taken away in four buses and two trucks to be questioned at a nearby army base.
Israeli soldiers on Sunday blew up two buildings which the army said it had found to contain large munitions caches, and continued rounding up Palestinians.
Israeli police said troops in Nablus had also arrested eight foreigners -- seven of them international peace activists supporting Palestinians -- and a journalist identified as Jordanian by the Israeli human rights group Gush Shalom, AP reported.
Israeli troops in Balata blew up also the house of Mahmoud Titi, the local commander of the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades group who was assassinated in Balata two weeks ago by an Israeli tank strike. Israeli sources said the house had been a "bomb factory." The army said it also blew up a Nablus restaurant which contained ordnance including an explosive belt ready for use in a bombing attack.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian hospital officials in Khan Younis said a 17-year-old had been wounded by the gunfire. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
