Israeli Army Invades Town in West Bank

Israeli tanks and troops invaded the Palestinian-controlled town of Jenin early today, surrounding the governor’s office and destroying the main police station before withdrawing. Palestinians said at least four security officers were hurt in the attack.

As helicopters flew overhead and flares lighted the sky, tanks and bulldozers rolled onto the town’s streets, causing widespread panic among residents. Palestinian militiamen using loudspeakers urged every able-bodied man to grab his gun and defend the town.

The operation was Israel’s deepest incursion into a Palestinian-controlled city in the West Bank since peace talks collapsed and fighting erupted in September. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo called the move a declaration of war. The Palestinians said they would appeal to the United Nations Security Council for international protection.

Israeli newspapers reported Monday that several bombers from the militant Islamic movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad have come from Jenin or surrounding villages. One newspaper called the town a “bomber factory.”

The Israeli army issued a statement at dawn saying it had acted in response to “terror attacks,” including a suicide bombing Thursday in Jerusalem that killed 16 people and a second bombing Sunday, in a northern Israeli town, in which only the bomber was killed.

The army said its troops did not return fire during their four hours in Jenin, in an effort to avoid hurting civilians. “The Israeli army will act as necessary in order to prevent terror attacks and protect Israeli civilians and soldiers,” the statement said.

The army has punched into Palestinian-controlled territory in the Gaza Strip many times, usually destroying one or two buildings of the security forces or uprooting trees or crops, then retreating. But such incursions into Palestinian-controlled territory in the West Bank are more rare.

Under the 1993 Oslo peace accords signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israel is allowed to enter Palestinian territory only in “hot pursuit” of suspects. But Israel has largely ignored that restriction for months, arguing that its incursions are unavoidable because the Palestinian Authority has done little to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

“I am speaking to you in a low voice because there is an Israeli tank 50 yards from my home,” said Fakhri Attorkman, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council who lives in Jenin. Reached by telephone in the predawn hours, Attorkman said he could still hear gunfire in the streets.

The Israelis “destroyed a position of the National Security Forces, and flares are continuously lighting the sky,” he said.

Late Monday, Palestinians reported that about 40 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers, backed by infantry, had ringed Jenin and that flares were illuminating the night. Israeli security sources initially said the deployment was meant to impose a tight blockade on the town in an effort to keep would-be bombers from infiltrating Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he has no interest in reoccupying parts of the West Bank or Gaza Strip already handed back to the Palestinians under the Oslo accords. But he has come under increasing pressure from within his right-wing government and from the Israeli public to retaliate forcefully for bombing attacks, which have debilitated life in Israel.

Palestinians have feared a massive Israeli retaliation since the bombing in Jerusalem on Thursday. The bomber, from Hamas, came from Jenin.

Hours after Thursday’s bombing, Israeli F-16 fighter jets destroyed an empty Palestinian police station in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and troops and police occupied Palestinian Authority offices in East Jerusalem and Abu Dis, a village on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem.

The occupation of the offices, including Orient House, the Palestinian Authority’s de facto headquarters in Jerusalem, sparked criticism from the Bush administration and other governments and street demonstrations in East Jerusalem. Sharon said he authorized the move to reassert Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and to underscore to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat that he must rein in attackers.

Palestinians observed a “day of rage” Monday to protest Israel’s takeover of the offices, participating in a general commercial strike in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and holding large anti-Israel rallies. Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria joined in the strike. Israeli police said the closure of Orient House will be valid for at least six months.

Gun battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian militias were reported in several locations during the night, but there were no reports of injuries.

Fighting has raged between Israelis and Palestinians since September, and more than 650 people--most of them Palestinian-- have been killed.

Sharon insists that he will not engage in diplomatic talks with the Palestinians until all attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers end. However, he agreed Sunday night to allow his dovish foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to hold talks with senior Palestinian officials in an effort to achieve a cease-fire.

Peres, who threatened to leave the government if he was not allowed to negotiate, is expected to begin talks soon with Ahmed Korei, the Palestinian official who negotiated the 1993 accords with Peres.