Israel captures armed Palestinians

Israeli forces have captured two armed Palestinians approaching a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

The armed Palestinians were approaching the security fence of the Jewish settlement of Alei Sinai when soldiers opened fire and cut off their retreat, Israel Radio reported. The Palestinians returned fire, then the two surrendered.

The army confirmed capturing two of four men spotted near the settlement armed with assault rifles and wearing camouflage.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel has done much to confront terror, but "deep problems" remain.

He credited his outgoing army chief of general staff, Lt Gen Shaul Mofaz, with exerting "a great effort in confronting terrorism" over the past four years, particularly in the past two years of steady Israeli-Palestinian violence.

"We have had some victories, but there still remain deep problems," Sharon said as he thanked Mofaz.

Also today, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman visited for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, part of Arab efforts to push along reforms to the Palestinian Authority.

Suleiman met Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and was to speak with Arafat, who is confined by Israeli forces in his Ramallah compound, later today.

Arafat has been under Israeli and American pressure to restructure his overlapping security forces and direct them to stop terror attacks against Israel.

In the past week, Arafat dismissed three senior security leaders, including Jibril Rajoub, head of Preventive Security in the West Bank.