A top Egyptian envoy has called on Yasser Arafat to lead Middle East peace efforts as Palestinian leaders expressed concern about Israel’s threat to draw its own West Bank border if talks broke down.

An Egyptian envoy today urged the Palestinians to lead the way toward ending more than three years of violence with Israel, saying he was hopeful that Israel would respond favourably to such moves.

Israeli tanks and troops poured into the West Bank town of Nablus today, declaring a curfew and rounding up hundreds of Palestinian men in a neighbouring refugee camp as part of a search for militants.

Ramadan’s holiness never stopped Iraqi Muslims from shooting at Iranian Muslims in the 1980s, or Egyptian Muslims from gassing Yemeni co-religionists in the 1960s.