Israeli tanks and troops poured into the West Bank town of Nablus today, declaring a curfew and rounding up two thousand Palestinian men in a neighbouring refugee camp claimed by the military as part of a search for militants. The Israeli troops entered Nablus with about 100 tanks and armoured personnel carriers, Palestinians said, though their main target was the adjacent Balata refugee camp, a stronghold of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militia, which is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
In the camp, soldiers used loudspeakers to call on Palestinian males, aged between 15 and 45, to walk with their hands raised to an open field near a factory at the front of the camp.
Journalists, who approached the area before being told to leave by the soldiers, said hundreds of Palestinian men were at the site - some estimates put the figure as high as 2,000. As the Israelis checked the identities of the men, some were blindfolded and handcuffed.
Nearby, a Palestinian gunman was shot dead after he infiltrated a Jewish settlement.
The Israeli incursion came as diplomats shuttled between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, searching for ways to end 20 months of Mideast violence. Despite the increased diplomatic activity, there was no sign of new peace initiatives.
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon met US Assistant Secretary of State Mr William Burns and Mr Osama el-Baz, adviser to Egyptian President Mr Hosni Mubarak.
CIA Director Mr George Tenet was expected in the region over the weekend. Mr Sharon's office said he emphasised: "Israel's position that cessation of terror, violence and incitement and a thorough reform of the Palestinian Authority were conditions for progress in the diplomatic process."
Israel, which has been staging almost daily raids into Palestinian towns in the West Bank, said it went into Nablus and the adjacent Balata refugee camp "in the wake of recent murderous attacks."
Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat, speaking at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, denounced the incursions, saying, "this is Israel's message to the whole world, and proof they do not want to reach any agreement or any political settlement."
Israeli troops also used explosives to blow up the empty house of Jihad Titi, a suicide bomber who carried out an attack on Monday that killed an Israeli grandmother and her 18 month old granddaughter.
Soldiers also went house to house in the camp. In some instances, they broke through interior walls to go from one house to the next, rather than by walking in the streets, where they would be exposed to snipers, residents said. One Palestinian man was seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire, hospital doctors said.
Nablus, which has close to 200,000 residents, was the scene of heavy fighting when the Israel troops occupied the city for a week in early April.
AP