Military

DATE=05/27/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-290239

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: Israeli troops have raided Bethlehem as military sweeps continue in the West Bank for wanted Palestinian militants. Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Israeli infantry units backed by armored vehicles rolled into Bethlehem for the second time in two days as part of what the military describes as pinpoint, intelligence-driven raids into Palestinian-ruled territory.

Israeli troops entered Manger Square in the heart of the town and conducted house-to-house searches for militants.

Israeli soldiers blocked access to the Church of the Nativity, built over the site where tradition says Jesus was born, to prevent another standoff at the shrine with Palestinian gunmen.

Last month some militants took refuge inside the basilica during a previous Israeli raid, and remained there for more than five weeks until a deal was reached to send them into exile in Europe or the Gaza Strip.

Soldiers also launched an incursion into the nearby Dheisheh refugee camp, questioning and arresting Palestinian suspects.

Most of those seized in the camp belong to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

The group has claimed responsibility for many attacks against Israelis, including recent suicide bombings.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers are continuing a military operation in the Palestinian town of Qalqilya and are surrounding Tulkarm.

Both towns are near the line that separates Israel from the West Bank.

An army spokesman says the raids are the result of continuing intelligence information that new suicide bombings are being planned.

Despite the warnings, Israeli Defense Minister Benyamin Ben-Eliezer says he does not expect the military to launch a massive invasion against targets in the Palestinian territories.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed and thousands arrested in a large-scale Israeli military operation in the West Bank which ended earlier this month.

That action was launched after a series of Palestinian suicide attacks killed dozens of Israelis.

Mr. Arafat says continued Israeli raids into Palestinian territory could delay reforms within his Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian leader has pledged to hold new elections by early next year, and says Israel must finish what he called the siege of cities and towns in the West Bank to facilitate preparations for the voting. (Signed)

NEB/MB/KL