Bomb Kills 6 Israelis; Army Retakes West Bank Lands
Yasir Arafat condemned both bombings early this morning in a strongly worded statement distributed to Palestinian newspapers, radio and television stations in which he expressed a need to "speak to you frankly about the necessity to stop these attacks."

It remained to be seen, however, whether anyone among the Palestinian militants was listening to Mr. Arafat, whether the Israelis still regarded him as the prime architect of terror or whether he was simply trying to evade Israeli retribution.

The suicide bombing at dusk on Wednesday apparently touched off a series of Israeli military actions overnight.

Reports indicated that there had been Apache helicopter gunship attacks at several points in the Gaza Strip, as well as a fierce firefight in Qalqilya in which two Israeli soldiers and a local Palestinian intelligence chief were killed. In addition, there were reports of Israeli tanks poised on the edge of Ramallah.

"Out of my concern to our people, their land and their future," Mr. Arafat said in his statement, "I declare my complete condemnation to these attacks that target Israeli civilians."

The bombings, he went on, "have nothing to do with our national rights in legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation and our right to defend our resistance and our holy sites against this settlement danger."

Pursuing its new policy of moving back into Palestinian land on Wednesday, the army trundled seven trailer houses on flatbed trucks into Jenin, in addition to the usual complement of tanks; troops shut the city down in a curfew and rounded up hundreds of Palestinians.

The mobile homes are similar to those used by Israeli settlers establishing outposts. They were set up near what had been used as a temporary base outside the Jenin refugee camp during fighting in April. This time, though, there were also fuel and water trucks, which suggested that barracks were being established for a long stay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/international/middleeast/20MIDE.htmlands