Palestinian Police Reassert Their Control in Bethlehem
On Manger Square, in front of the Church of the Nativity, the many tourist shops were closed and there was not a pilgrim in sight. But the "tourist police" were back on duty, and inside the Catholic monastery next to the church, a group of youths gathered around a piano.

"We're practicing for Christmas," a young woman said. Why now? "We may not be able to do it later."

That same skepticism abounded in statements and editorials. "At this stage, this is not a real withdrawal of Israel Defense Force troops" nor "a real Palestinian withdrawal from the policy of terrorism," Yael Gwurtz wrote in the daily Yediot Ahronot, calling it "a confidence-building measure."

Reports from Gaza said Palestinian security men had set up roadblocks to check Palestinian vehicles. If they succeed in curbing attacks on Israel, Israel said it would extend the arrangement to other West Bank towns.

But the agreement, negotiated by Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, came under increasingly sharp attack from hawkish politicians. The far-right leader of the National Religious Party, Effie Eitam, threatened to quit the government coalition. Uzi Landau, the public security minister, assailed Mr. Ben-Eliezer at a cabinet meeting, saying, "You should have destroyed the Palestinian Authority to its very foundations."

In any case, the violence was far from over. In Ramallah, Israeli undercover soldiers tried to arrest the brother of a militant Palestinian leader. The man pulled a gun, the Israeli Army said, and wounded two soldiers before he was shot dead.

Tensions flared. Israeli military vehicles sealed off the site of the shooting and reappeared on crossroads, declaring that a curfew was in effect and lobbing stun grenades. Clusters of angry youths gathered.

The raid was one of many the Israelis have continued mounting. The target in this case was Muhammad Saadat, the brother of Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Witnesses said Muhammad Saadat, 23, was in his small shop when the Israelis tried to arrest him. In a statement, the army described the younger Saadat as an "active member" of his brother's group.

Following the immutable pattern of recent months, the group vowed vengeance. "Our response will be a deterrent and painful, and the Israelis know it," a senior leader of the group in Gaza, Rabah Muhana, told Reuters.

The Palestinian West Bank security chief, Zuhair Manasra, told Israeli television that "a continuation of the Israeli assassinations will bring about the collapse of the agreement" in Bethlehem and Gaza.

The Israelis also had a new victim. Sgt. Kevin Cohen, 19, was killed when a Palestinian sniper opened fire at an outpost on the outskirts of the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The militant Hamas movement claimed responsibility. The shooting followed a heavy exchange of fire in which the Palestinians said a 15-year-old youth was killed.

[Israeli tanks and helicopters raided Khan Yunis on Wednesday and destroyed buildings, and a Palestinian civilian was killed when a house collapsed on him, residents said.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/21/international/middleeast/21MIDE.html