Israel Keeps Grip on Nablus; July Talks Date Raised
The army maintained its grip on Nablus and the adjacent Balata refugee camp -- both bastions of Palestinian militants -- on the third day of a sweep the Israeli government said was aimed at thwarting more suicide bombings in its cities.

Israel waged a six-week military offensive against militant bombers across the West Bank that ended on May 10 with claims of success, but attacks resumed two weeks later and troops have raided Palestinian towns repeatedly since.

The raids, coupled with tightened closures and ad hoc curfews, have all but wiped out boundaries between territory under Palestinian self-rule and that occupied by Israel, negotiated under interim peace deals during the 1990s.

The Palestinian Authority says such conditions will make it difficult to carry out democratic reforms and rein in security organs linked to violence -- conditions set by Israel for reviving talks on a final peace envisaging a Palestinian state.

Israeli police said troops in Nablus had also arrested eight foreigners -- seven of them international peace activists supporting Palestinians -- and a journalist identified as Jordanian by the Israeli human rights group Gush Shalom.

A police spokesman said deportation of the activists had begun, while the newsman's case would be handled separately.

Palestinian sources said six students, including four women, were detained in an overnight army raid on the dormitories of al-Najar University in Nablus. Israel Radio quoted military sources as saying two of the women were plotting suicide bombings and that one had an explosives belt.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast.html