Israeli tanks surround Arafat's compound

Palestinians place Hamas leader under house arrest and claim helicopters killed six in Gaza strip

Israeli tanks surrounded Yasser Arafat's shell-shattered headquarters today, expanding Israeli control to cover most major towns in the West Bank.

Seventeen tanks were taking up positions all around the compound and just inside at a helicopter pad; soldiers flashed V-for-victory signs while standing atop their armoured personnel carriers and used a bulldozer to push stones and debris into a barricade, closing off the entrance to the compound. Palestinian intelligence officials said 130 tanks were seen moving into the city under the cover of two Israeli helicopters, but there was no resistance.

The Israeli army spokesman's office confirmed its forces had taken up positions in "strategic points in the city" of Ramallah and placed it under curfew. Some explosives were set off targeting the forces, the army said, slightly injuring one soldier. The army gave no further details, but three explosions had been heard in al-Amari refugee camp.

Israeli forces began reinvading Palestinian towns when suicide bombings on Tuesday and Wednesday killed 26 Israelis in Jerusalem. The attacks prompted an Israeli policy shift to gradually retake land with no plans to leave until all Palestinian terror attacks stop. More than a half-million Palestinians are confined under curfews.

The Ramallah incursion came moments after word Palestinian authorities had placed the spiritual leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas under house arrest early Monday in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, the Palestinians arrested dozens of Hamas members, including a local Gaza leader, Muhammed Shuhab.

Hamas has claimed scores of suicide bombings in Israel. Seven Palestinian police cars blocked the street on either side of Sheik Ahmed Yassin's Gaza home.

Meanwhile, Palestinian hospital workers and witnesses said Israeli Apache helicopters fired at two cars travelling in a remote area of southern Gaza Strip today, killing six people and injuring five. The army declined to comment on the incident.

Israeli forces carried out arrests before dawn Monday, with the army saying eight wanted Palestinians were arrested in Hebron, two people were arrested in Siair village, just north of Hebron, and a wanted person was arrested in Jenin and in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. Palestinians said many of the 10 Hebron area people arrested were known to be Hamas members. Soldiers pulled back after making the arrests.

In Jenin, Israeli troops carried out house-to-house searches, arresting the head of military intelligence, Mohammed Abu Hanana, and his bodyguard, Palestinian security officials said. The army said four Palestinians wanted by security forces were arrested in the Askar refugee camp east of Nablus.

Since the end of March, when Israeli forces beginning a massive military offensive in the West Bank bombarded Arafat's compound and stayed there for a month, tanks have been back to his offices three times. Early this month, they blew up some buildings inside the compound and left the same day. They returned about two weeks ago and parked around the compound for three days before leaving.

Arafat was inside the compound along with Faisal Abu Sharakh, head of the Force 17 security apparatus, along with West Bank intelligence chief Tarik Tirawi, who is wanted by Israel, and Ribhy Arafat, the Palestinians' senior official responsible for coordination with the Israelis, Abu Rdeneh said. No shots were fired.

The move into Ramallah widens the Israeli military's scope of control over once-autonomous Palestinian areas. Israeli troops now control most Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Bethlehem.

Within an hour of moving into Ramallah and adjoining el-Bireh, soldiers announced through loudspeakers that a curfew had been imposed on the area's 200,000 residents as in the other towns. Witnesses said two Israeli army jeeps pulled up outside al-Amari refugee camp and three tanks parked in front of the Ramallah government hospital.

Israeli officials deny Arafat's claim they intend to re-establish civil control over the West Bank, making Israel again responsible for municipal services, building permits, education and vital records. An Israeli military administration presided over Palestinians until creation of autonomous areas began in 1994.

"It is clear that this is a continuation of the occupation in our towns and refugee camps," Arafat said Sunday.

Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that "Israel will be there in military presence only, in order to crush terror." But Gissin acknowledged Israel would assist when necessary. Palestinians have reported problems with garbage removal and electricity since Israeli forces moved in and imposed curfews.

To deal with the expanded West Bank operation, the army has begun calling up reservists. Speaking after the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, hard-line Israeli Cabinet Minister Effi Eitam said Israel was at war and would remain in Palestinian areas "for many months, responsible for security there."

Israel was settling back into West Bank towns as both sides — and European and Arab peace brokers — awaited U.S. President George W. Bush's ideas for a fresh start to peacemaking. Before the Ramallah incursion, White House officials said Bush's address was tentatively planned for Monday, but that the president had to make the final decision and events on the ground could force further postponement.

Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been cool to the idea at the heart of Bush's proposal — a truncated Palestinian state with limited sovereignty — but neither has rejected the plan outright ahead of the speech.

In the Gaza Strip, an order had been issued for the house arrest of Yassin, the Hamas spiritual leader, Palestinian security sources told The Associated Press.

Ismail Hanya, a spokesman for Yassin and head of his office, said Hamas hadn't received any official notice from the Palestinian Authority regarding Yassin's house arrest. However, he said he hasn't been able to reach the cleric at his home.

In the past, Palestinian police have cut Yassin's telephone line to his home and confiscated the mobile phones of his bodyguards and sons to limit his outside contact.

When last placed under house arrest in December 2001, Hamas and Arafat supporters clashed. Two Palestinian police cars were set ablaze and a Hamas supporter died in the fighting. Then, Yassin was under house arrest for about six weeks, until his detention unofficially ended in January with heavy Israeli bombardment of Palestinian infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.