An Israeli military spokesman announced at dawn Tuesday the army was withdrawing from the city of Tulkarem in the north of the West Bank after having reoccupied it for 24 hours.
"We are leaving Tulkarem," the spokesman said without going into details.
The Israeli army chief of staff, General Shaul Mofaz, said late Monday that the army did not want to "permanently occupy" Tulkarem.
"We don't want to reconquer Tulkarem ... we shall continue during the night to look for arms and terrorists," Mofaz said, adding that when the night was through, his office would examine the situation to decide how long the troops who had moved in at dawn Monday would stay there.
It was the first time since self-rule began in 1994 that Israeli forces had totally reoccupied a Palestinian town.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army pushed early Tuesday into the autonomous urban zone of Nablus, also in the north of the West Bank, a Palestinian security source said.
A dozen Israeli armoured vehicles moved about one kilometre (0.6 mile) into the Palestinian zone, he said. Entering from the west they went as far as Assira Street, a major thoroughfare.
A second Israeli unit was seen approaching from the north of the city.
Sporadic shooting was heard from both sectors.
An Israeli military spokesman questioned by AFP refused to give any details of the ongoing operation.
(China Daily January 22, 2002)
