Associated Press
TULKAREM, West Bank — Israeli troops searched homes and traded fire with Palestinians as the military took over an entire Palestinian town Monday, a first in 16 months of fighting and another blow to beleaguered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Stepping up its actions, Israel sent tanks into a neighborhood in the West Bank town of Nablus early today.
In the second incursion, Israeli tanks drove within one-third of a mile of Nablus’ city center before dawn today. Residents heard sporadic gunfire, but apparently there was no heavy Palestinian resistance. A Palestinian security official said he was informed by Israeli counterparts that the Nablus raid was limited in scope, unlike the Tulkarem operation.
Dozens of tanks rumbled through the streets of Tulkarem, emptied by a military curfew. Troops firing tank-mounted machine guns fought with Palestinian militiamen and rounded up suspected militants. Three Palestinians were killed and 23 wounded in clashes in Tulkarem and in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where Arafat has been confined since Friday.
A defiant Arafat said the Palestinians would resist the Israeli incursion, saying Israel "crossed all the red lines" by taking over Tulkarem.
Israel has raided Palestinian-ruled areas many times since fighting broke out in September 2000. However, Monday marked the first time Israel took control of an entire major Palestinian town since Palestinian self-rule began in 1994.
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