Clash Occurs on W. Bank Near Nablus
Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of Nablus Saturday after the Israeli army prevented a joint Arab-Jewish peace coalition from delivering food to Palestinians living under curfew for more than two months.

The army fired tear gas and Palestinian youths threw stones, according to witnesses in the West Bank city. No injuries were reported.

In the West Bank town of Hebron, the Israeli army entered a Palestinian police station and arrested a man, whisking him away blindfolded and handcuffed in an armored personnel carrier, witness said.

No details were immediately available on who the suspect was or why he was arrested.

The army said it was investigating both incidents, which underscored the tensions that reign in the West Bank amid the current wave of attacks and counterattacks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinian leaders have denounced a U.S. proposal to create a new governmental post to dilute the power of Yasser Arafat, and an official said such disagreements could threaten upcoming Palestinian elections.

Arafat is likely to be re-elected in that vote, despite attempts by the United States to sideline him. U.S. officials accuse him of stoking Israeli-Palestinian violence, and they are calling for elections as part of efforts to persuade the Palestinian Authority to undertake sweeping reforms.

As an alternative to the 73-year-old leader, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice -- in a meeting in Washington with Palestinian officials two weeks ago -- proposed that the Palestinian parliament choose a prime minister, said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.

In a report Friday to an international task force in Paris on Palestinian reform, the Palestinian Authority said it would not agree to changes in the electoral system used by Palestinians in 1996 to confirm Arafat as leader.

``We told them (the United States) that this is not your business,'' Erekat said. ``We were shocked during the discussions that the American side is speaking about changing the law of elections.''

The United States, he said, is trying to delay the balloting.

Raanan Gissin, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, confirmed the United States proposed a parliament-chosen prime minister as a way of sidestepping Arafat.

``They (the Palestinians) rejected that,'' Gissin said. ``The election as proposed in its current state will only ensure that the same people and the same reign of terror will be re-established.''

Palestinians refer to Arafat as their president. The Israelis refer to him as ``Chairman Arafat,'' saying there's not yet a Palestinian state to be president of.

On Saturday, about 400 members of the Israeli Jewish-Arab peace group Taayush, or Coexistence, tried to deliver food to Palestinians near Nablus, but were stopped by the army, demonstrators said.

Military officials said the demonstrators, all Israeli citizens, were blocked by the army because they had not coordinated their entry into Palestinian areas with the army's civil administration. Shortly after violence broke out in September 2000, the government banned citizens from entering Palestinian areas without permission because of security fears.

Witnesses said the group managed to get some food to local Palestinians.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html