Arafat compound siege criticized

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came under wall-to-wall criticism at home Monday for the bungled 10-day siege of Yasser Arafat's compound, which was aborted under intense U.S. pressure.\nSeveral Cabinet ministers said Israel underestimated Washington's opposition to the operation and its determination to keep the focus on Iraq ahead of a possible U.S. strike against Saddam Hussein.\nIn new violence Monday, Israeli troops enforcing a curfew in the West Bank town of Nablus and an adjacent refugee camp killed two Palestinian boys, ages 10 and 11, and wounded 25 amid clashes between soldiers and Palestinians throwing stones--some of them youngsters on the way to or from school.\nIn the case of the slain 11-year-old, Rami Barbari, the Israeli military said soldiers fired at a youth who was about to throw a firebomb. The military had no immediate comment on the report on the death of the second child. Palestinians said he was shot dead by soldiers after children pelted a tank with rocks.\nLater Monday, there was a fierce exchange of fire in downtown Nablus, Palestinians said. They said gunmen apparently opened fire at soldiers, and the Israelis fired back. Black smoke rose from one of the buildings, they said, and military ambulances arrived at the scene. Three helicopters hovered overhead, and one landed, witnesses said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.\nThe army said it was investigating the reports. Nablus has been under Israeli military curfew since June with residents only permitted occasionally to leave their homes. Many children violate curfew to get to school. An Associated Press photographer, Nasser Ishtayeh, was lightly injured in the foot by shrapnel during the clashes.\nAt Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, Israeli troops were out of sight at day after ending their siege though they still control the town, as well as most other population centers in the West Bank.\nA small bulldozer brought in by the Palestinians cleared some of the rubble; in the initial assault last week, Israeli troops leveled all but one building. Workers swept up shattered glass, fixed water pipes and tried to salvage air conditioners while crowds gathered nearby to gawk. Vendors quickly arrived to sell ice cream, coffee and newspapers.