Two killed in West Bank raid
Launching the first major incursion in the West Bank since Mr Sharon’s tough security stance earned his Likud party a resounding win in Tuesday’s election, an Israeli armoured force swept into the Palestinian-controlled sector of Hebron.
Witnesses said soldiers had entered private homes, stormed Palestinian Authority offices and blocked major roads in the city, where violence has frequently raged in a 28-month-old Palestinian uprising.
In Tulkarm, soldiers shot dead two Palestinians who the army said belonged to al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a group linked to Mr Arafat’s Fatah faction. Palestinian officials said only one of the men was a brigades member.
The army said the troops had tried to take the two into custody but opened fire when they tried to flee.
The Hebron operation followed the killing of three soldiers outside a Jewish settlement near the city a week ago. It also came hours after Mr Arafat, the Palestinian leader , said he was willing to hold immediate talks with Mr Sharon and call a cease-fire.
A spokesman for Mr Sharon dismissed the offer as “duplicity and deception”.
Responding to the snub, Mr Arafat said: “We are committed to the peace of the brave ... This is the Holy Land, and peace has to be a priority.”
While Israeli forces went into action in Tulkarm and Hebron, Mr Sharon’s pursuit of a coalition was still in low gear.
Israeli voters showed their support for Mr Sharon’s tough line against the uprising by almost doubling Likud’s representation in the 120-member parliament to 37 seats.
The electorate punished Likud’s main rival, the centre-left Labour Party that led landmark interim peace efforts with the Palestinians, by cutting its share to 19 seats from 25.
Short of a ruling majority, Mr Sharon faces an uphill battle to create the unity government he says is was needed to confront what he calls terrorism and the prospect of a US war on Iraq that could draw Iraqi missile attacks on Israel. Israeli President Moshe Katzav planned to hold talks with political parties next week and was then expected to give Mr Sharon the nod to try to form a government within 28 days.
“Sharon is feeling out the parties,” a senior source in the prime minister’s office said. “It is too early to hold official contacts, but he is certainly interested.”
In a radio interview, Labour leader Amram Mitzna again pledged to stay out of a Sharon-led government.
In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians chanting “Dear Saddam, bomb Tel Aviv” marched in support of Iraq.
