Israeli troops escalate invasion

JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops are keeping at least 400,000 Palestinians under effective house arrest with round-the-clock curfews and largely barring the media from covering its escalating invasion of the West Bank -- an operation that has faced minimal Palestinian resistance and limited international criticism.\nThe army began "Operation Determined Path" last week, after two suicide bombings in Jerusalem killed 26 Israelis. An earlier wave of Palestinian attacks set off a similar six-week sweep through the West Bank in late March.\nBut unlike that first extended foray, when Israeli troops encountered heavy fire in several towns and besieged the office of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the new operation has been comparatively low-key. Troops have steadily moved into the Palestinian areas, but without the fanfare or the firefights.\nThe one exception was Qalqiliya, where two Israeli soldiers were killed in a gun battle as soldiers entered the town Wednesday evening. The troops pulled out, only to re-enter Sunday morning without resistance.\nThe lack of prolonged gunbattles and extensive aerial bombardments as well as daily pictures of devastation has muted Arab and European criticism this time, in contrast to Israel's last occupation. Key Arab leaders also have been working with Washington and likely will remain quiet at least until after they've heard President Bush's widely anticipated policy proposal on the Mideast crisis.\nDuring the last incursion, Israeli forces went house-to-house searching for suspected militants and carried out mass arrests of Palestinian men.\nIn the latest drive into the West Bank the tanks and armored personnel carriers have parked in the deserted streets, and for the most part, have just remained there. The significant exception was the northern West Bank town of Jenin, where many hundreds were rounded up late last week.\n"We have no choice but take these measures to stop suicide bombers from killing our women, children, and sometimes babies," Israeli government spokesman Danny Naveh said Sunday. "The Palestinian population is suffering, I can acknowledge that as well. We need to put an end to this suffering -- in both communities."\nOne reason for the relative absence of resistance this time is that more than 200 Palestinians, many of them militants, were killed and 1,000 arrested in the first round.\nIsrael says it must track down suicide bombers because the Palestinian security forces are unable or unwilling to do it. However, the first sweep did not stop the bombings for long.\nThis time around, Israeli troops are using curfews more, in terms of both extent and duration.\nIsraeli troops have imposed round-the-clock curfews on the five Palestinian cities and towns they control -- Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya -- as well as a suburb of Ramallah.\nAbout 400,000 Palestinians live in these cities and towns, and they cannot leave their houses to go to work, to school or to shop. The only exceptions are medical emergencies.\nTypically, the curfew is lifted for about three hours every third day, during which residents rush to the market to stock up on food.\nPalestinians say Israel's goal is clear -- to destroy the Palestinian Authority and replace it with Israeli rule, as was the case before the two sides signed the breakthrough 1993 Oslo Accords.\nThe Israelis "are continuing the destruction of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian institutions," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. "We will end up with Israel fully resuming the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, fully replacing the Palestinian Authority, with the Israeli civil administration and military government"