Sharon's military campaign continues

Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, today made some concessions to the increasingly loud international condemnation of Israel's 12-day-old invasion of the West Bank, withdrawing his troops from two towns but pushing ahead with offensives in a new area and maintaining tight control of four major Palestinian towns.
Early today, Israeli soldiers withdrew from the towns of Tulkaram and Qalqiliya, but later raided the small town of Dura in the southern West Bank. Witnesses in the town said they heard the sound of gun battles as tanks and helicopters advanced.

Today Israeli troops remained in control of four West Bank towns: Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah.

In the Jenin refugee camp, dozens of gunmen remained holed up in a small area, fighting what has become the deadliest battle of the occupation. Jamal Abdel Salam, a camp resident and member of the militant group Hamas, said he was told by the armed men that they were being surrounded by Israeli soldiers in the eastern part of the camp.

"They said they prefer death to surrender. They asked me to look after their families," he said in a telephone interview.