The Israeli army reentered the Palestinian town of Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestinian witnesses said. According to these sources, Israeli infantry units, backed by armored vehicles, had entered the Dheishe refugee camp.
Israeli military sources said the operation in Bethlehem, from which troops pulled out on Thursday after occupying parts of it for three days, was a "patrol," routinely undertaken after a bomb alert.
Late on Friday Israeli troops backed by dozens of armored vehicles also re-occupied the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, entering the town from three directions, Palestinian officials told AFP.
Israeli soldiers also took control of two nearby refugee camps and imposed a curfew on the area, the town's governor Ezzedine Sharif said. The Israeli army denied an incursion of the scale described by the Palestinian official, saying that it had carried out a "routine patrol" in Tulkarem.
The Israeli army earlier made a large-scale incursion into the West Bank town of Nablus, reoccupying part of this town and the Balata refugee camp, Palestinian security and Israeli military sources said.
Israeli troops arrested more than 100 Palestinians in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus during the course of operations that began early Friday morning. Among them was Issam Abubakr, the local chief of Fatah movement, Palestinian security sources said.
The soldiers patrolled the deserted streets of Nablus, which was under curfew, and made additional arrests Saturday in a residential area near Al-Najah University, where many students live.
A group of men defied the curfew and attended prayers at the mosque in Nablus' Old City, witnesses said. An Israeli armored personnel carrier fired on them as they were leaving, killing Tareq el-Kharaz, 24, Palestinian doctors said.
PA cabinet
Yasser Arafat on Saturday met European Union (foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
According to a Palestinian daily, Arafat has named new ministers and redesigned his security apparatus. Al-Quds published Saturday that the cabinet reshuffle was to take effect next week, with the number of portfolios trimmed from 32 to 28.
There was no prime-ministerial post created. He was to relinquish the Religious Affairs, General Education and Sport and Youth portfolios, retaining only the Interior portfolio.
According to this report, Gaza Preventive Security Service Chief, Mohammed Dahlan will become Arafat's adviser on the security council.
Salient among the new appointments were Hanan Ashrawi as education minister and Saeb Erekat as international cooperation minister. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
