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Israel Ends Military Operation In Nablus

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By ISABEL KERSHNER, The New York Times

Published: January 6, 2008

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army wound up a large-scale, three-day operation in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, an army spokesman said.

The operation drew condemnation from Palestinian officials, who argued that it could frustrate nascent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and spoil the Palestinian Authority's efforts to restore security to the restive city.

Nimr Hamad, a political adviser to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Saturday that the operation was "absolutely unjustified."

"It is destroying all the common efforts by our security forces and the assistance of the United States in the security field in the past few months," Hamad said. He added that the Palestinians had raised the issue with the Americans ahead of a visit to the region by President Bush, expected to begin Wednesday.

Salam Fayyad, Palestinian prime minister, said Friday that the Israeli operation was "destructive to his government's efforts in the security field."
Israeli military officials said they had uncovered an arms cache in Nablus on Thursday that contained explosives and materials for manufacturing rockets. At least one rocket was found in an early stage of production, an army spokesman said Saturday.

Thousands of crude, locally made rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas, killing 13 Israelis since 2001. Evidence of attempts at rocket production is much more rare in the West Bank.

On Saturday, the Israeli army said it had discovered another "explosives laboratory" in Nablus.

Responding to Palestinian criticism, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said, "We would hope these sorts of operations were no longer necessary, but the sad reality is that the Palestinian security apparatuses are not yet ready to meet the challenge."

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