Israel in dawn raid on city

IN THE biggest sweep of its kind for months, Israeli troops hunting for militants stormed dozens of homes in this Palestinian city yesterday, ordering residents to line up in the dawn chill as tanks blocked roads and helicopters hovered above.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat denounced the raid as a new war crime. It came two days after five Israelis were killed in a shooting rampage in a farming community.

The Palestinian leader also responded angrily to Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge that, if elected prime minister, he would expel him. “Netanyahu has to remember I am Yasser Arafat and this is my land and the land of my great-great-grandfathers,” he said.