The Israeli army on Sunday night sent more troops, tanks and armored vehicles to the outskirts of the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian eyewitnesses said.
Palestinian security sources said that they expect an Israeli army incursion into the town, or shelling by tanks or warplanes on Palestinian security installations in retaliation for the suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem earlier in the day.
The sources said that there is tension in the town, where police and security officials evacuate buildings, while the residents are buying food and gas in case of an Israeli army curfew.
Israeli F16 warplanes flew Sunday over the West Bank and Gaza, where Palestinians expected a quick Israeli retaliation for the suicide bombing attack a Palestinian woman, killing one and wounding dozens of Israelis.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing attack; however, Palestinian sources said that the suicide bomber is a woman identified as Shahinaz Amouri, a student of Najah University in Nablus in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Israeli government that they do not want to achieve peace and stability in the region.
Arafat said in an interview with the Israeli daily Yedioth Achronoth "if the world really wants to see peace in this region, and not anarchy and escalation, it must intervene."
Arafat denied that there is pressure practiced on him by the United States, adding that the question is just a matter of view differences and that contacts with the US administration are still valid and going on.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2002)
