Eighteen Palestinians were arrested overnight in the West Bank following one of the Israeli army's most devastating incursions yesterday in which 60 buildings were destroyed.
The escalation comes ahead of the Israeli general election where outgoing prime minister, Mr Ariel Sharon's uncompromising stance towards Palestinians isstemming the hemorrhage of support caused by scandals surrounding him and his Likud Party.
"House demolitions are a message addressed to suicide terrorists and those involved in terrorism to make it clear to them that their actions have a price," an army said after another house razed near Hebron overnight.
The Israeli army has bulldozed or dynamited more than 130 houses in the West Bank since August, when it launched its demolition policy which human rights groups have condemned as collective punishment.
Yesterday, the army destroyed an estimated 60 shops in the northern West Bank village of Nazlat Isa, which straddles the 1967 Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank.
Israeli police are on high alert along the Green Line, with less than a week before the elections.
Last night, a car packed with 660 pounds of explosives and four gas bottles was intercepted in the Arab town of Umm el-Fahm in northern Israel.
Interior Security Minister Mr Uzi Landau told military radio that police would "deploy maximum reinforcements in the run-up to the elections because we have information according to which terrorist groups are planning to step up their attacks ahead of the vote".
Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise on the Palestinian side. A teenager injured by tank fire during an army operation inside the refugee camp of Askar in the northern West Bank city of Nablus died of his wounds today.
The 15-year-old's death brought the number of Palestinians killed since the resumption of the intifada28 months ago to 2,137. The number of Israelis killed over the same period is 684.
AFP