Israelis sweep West Bank

NABLUS, West Bank -- In the biggest sweep in months, Israeli troops hunting for militants stormed dozens of homes in this Palestinian city Wednesday, ordering residents to line up in the dawn chill as tanks blocked roads and helicopters hovered above.\nPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat, meanwhile, responded angrily to Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge that, if elected prime minister, he would expel him.\n"Netanyahu has to remember that I am Yasser Arafat and that this is my land and the land of my grand-grand-grand-grand-grandfathers," Arafat said in English.\nArafat also denounced Wednesday's raid, which came two days after five Israelis were killed in a shooting rampage in a farming community, as a "new war crime."\nThe sweep came in response to a weekend attack on Kibbutz Metzer, an Israeli communal farm, by a gunman from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah group. The gunman fled the scene after killing five people, including a mother and her two boys.\nThe escalation came as Palestinian negotiators met with U.S. envoy David Satterfield, who is seeking comments on a new peace plan calling for Palestinian reforms, an Israeli troop pullback and a provisional Palestinian state by 2003.\nPalestinian officials denied Israeli reports that the United States agreed to put the plan on hold until after Israeli elections on Jan. 28. Israeli officials have said the plan does not meet Israeli security concerns and is unacceptable in its present form.\n"Contrary to what the Israelis are saying, Mr. Satterfield informed us that the American administration will complete work on the road map and declare it by the middle of next month," said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.\nNetanyahu renewed his call to expel Arafat in a meeting of the Security Cabinet. Netanyahu's appeal was supported by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, said Netanyahu spokeswoman Rena Riger. The Cabinet made no decision.\nOn Tuesday, Netanyahu told a convention of the rightist Likud Party that, if he became prime minister after Jan. 28 elections, he would make it a priority to kick out Arafat.\nAt the Likud convention, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised to wage an unrelenting battle against Palestinian militants but distanced himself from Netanyahu's pledge.\nSharon has repeatedly laid siege to Arafat's headquarters and troops have largely destroyed the block-sized compound, but Sharon has stopped short of ousting the Palestinian leader, apparently because of U.S. opposition.\nBoth Sharon and Netanyahu are vying for the leadership of the Likud, which polls show is poised to win the most seats in the Jan. 28 general elections, giving its leader a good chance of becoming prime minister.\nIsraeli officials identified the gunman in the attack on the kibbutz as 19-year-old Sirhan Sirhan, who they believe was dispatched by militiamen in Nablus.\nThe officials initially said they believed he was a distant relative of the assassin by the same name who killed Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968--but later withdrew that claim.\nHundreds of soldiers backed by about 100 armored vehicles and helicopter gunships poured into Nablus before dawn Wednesday.\nIt was the biggest sweep in the city since Israel's "Defensive Shield" offensive in April, and military commentators said they expected the operation to go on for many days.\nTroops have been in Nablus for most of the past seven months, enforcing curfews and manning checkpoints.\nThe focus of Wednesday's raid were several militant strongholds--the Old City, two neighborhoods near An Najah University as well as the Balata and Askar refugee camps on the outskirts of Nablus.\nThere were sporadic gunfights but no injuries.\nSeveral explosions were heard in Nablus' Old City, or Casbah, apparently set off by soldiers breaking open doors. Tanks sealed all exits from the Casbah, a maze of alleys and underground passages and the scene of fierce fighting in April. Troops took over a nearby girls' elementary school as a makeshift base.\nIn the Raffidiyeh neighborhood near the university, four men and 10 women dressed in traditional Muslim robes were pulled out of their homes. The men were told to face the wall and the women were told to sit on the ground as soldiers checked their identification and questioned them.\nIsrael declared Nablus a closed military zone, and soldiers barred journalists from taking pictures or talking to those rounded up. The army said 30 suspected militants were arrested in the raid.\nTroops also swept into Bir Zeit, a university town north of Ramallah, arresting suspected militants and confining residents to their homes.\nIn the Gaza Strip, Israeli helicopters fired four missiles on a suspected weapons workshop in Gaza City early Wednesday, the second such strike on the site in two days. The attack demolished a car repair shop that had been severely damaged in a similar pre-dawn attack Monday. The shop was empty both times.\nArafat's Fatah faction, meanwhile, was trying to persuade the militant Hamas group to stop suicide attacks in Israel. A meeting in Cairo on Wednesday ended without agreement, but talks were to continue.\nFatah has distanced itself from the shooting attack on the communal farm, saying it was a rogue operation and that it would help Arafat investigate.