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Israeli Tanks Move Into West Bank Towns
Israel tanks and bulldozers moved into Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Jenin Thursday, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said.
In the area of Jenin, eight tanks, given air cover by helicopter gunships, pushed five kilometres (three miles) into Palestinian-controlled territory, the security sources said.
At Ramallah, tanks rolled several hundred metres (yards) into the town, in the northern and northeastern fringes.
In the northeastern area, seven tanks were seen accompanying a bulldozer, which removed iron anti-tank spikes put in place by Palestinian security forces outside the Best Eastern Hotel.
There were no reports of Palestinian resistance to the incursions, which appeared to have taken place without shots being fired.
The Israeli army confirmed both operations, saying their objective was to "take positions around these two autnomous towns."
The foray came a day after Israel's hardline tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi, was assassinated in his Jerusalem hotel, and just hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near an Israeli army patrol in the Gaza Strip, slightly injuring two soldiers.
Both attacks were claimed by the radical left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group opposed to the 1993 peace accords between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel.
Israel had warned Arafat to hand over Zeevi's killers or face a collapse in the peace initiative he renewed with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres three weeks ago.
Palestinian police arrested several PFLP members in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, PFLP officials said.
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