Sharon declares end to operation's latest phase

Palestinians report new incursion

Israeli tanks stand outside the West Bank town of Nablus on Sunday.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday "the present phase of the battle against terrorism is over" after Israeli troops withdrew from Nablus and parts of Ramallah and redeployed in a cordon around those West Bank cities.

"We finished it," said Sharon, referring to "Operation Defensive Shield."

But hours later, Palestinian security sources said the Israeli army had entered 300 meters into Tulkarem with tanks and armored personnel carriers and were continuing to move in. The Israel Defense Forces said it had no comment.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the entry indicates the Israeli withdrawal was just a "sham" for the media, because Israeli forces are entering and withdrawing from towns at will.

Sharon said the operation, which Israel said was intended to root out terrorists and their infrastructure in the West Bank, has produced "serious results, but the struggle against terror will continue."

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The Palestinians have called the operation an attempt to reoccupy portions of the West Bank and dismantle the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli troops leave Nablus, parts of Ramallah

Israel's withdrawal from Nablus was delayed for a time because ultra-Orthodox Jews went to Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish holy site, to protest the withdrawal.

After IDF troops in Nablus removed the ultra-Orthodox Jews from Joseph's Tomb, sources said Sharon told a meeting of the Israeli Cabinet that Israel had withdrawn for now, but would "maintain a presence" around the tomb and the old synagogue in Jericho. He called on the ultra-Orthodox to have patience.

Residents in Ramallah emerged from their homes Sunday morning following the Israeli pullout, and shops began to open again. (Full story)

The compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on the northern edge of the city remained surrounded.

Israeli forces have said they want to isolate Arafat and take custody of five Palestinians inside his compound suspected of involvement in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi in October.

They have also demanded that Arafat turn over his paymaster, Fuoad Shubaki, whom Israel accuses of arranging the financing of an arms ship Israel seized in the Red Sea in January.

Arafat has offered to put the Ze'evi suspects on trial. But Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said Arafat had the chance to try the suspects and did not, giving them sanctuary instead. (Full story)

As the IDF withdrew from parts of Ramallah, troops went into the Kalandia refugee camp south of the city. Israeli military sources said troops arrested Nasser Abu Hemid, 31, a senior Fatah leader who is also a deputy to Palestinian militia leader Marwan Barghouti, whom Israel arrested last week.

The Israeli sources said Hemid is accused of instigating a number of terror attacks.

Bethlehem standoff continues

In Bethlehem, a standoff that began early this month between the Israeli military and Palestinians holed up in the Church of the Nativity continued amid charges and counter-charges over whether the army had halted supplies of food and medicine.

Erakat charged that the IDF was trying to end the standoff by starving the approximately 200 Palestinians inside. Israel maintains that at least 30 of the Palestinians are terrorists on Israel's most wanted list.

While refusing to comment directly on Erakat's charges, the IDF said it had tried four times to negotiate with the Palestinians on the provision of food, water and medicine. The spokesman said the Palestinians refused to negotiate, and said Arafat had ordered them not to take part in the talks

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday the Israelis and Palestinians need to make "slow but steady" progress toward resuming security. In an interview with CNN, Powell said the standoffs at Arafat's Ramallah compound and at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem must be resolved before security cooperation can resume. (Full story) (Transcript)

Israel sets conditions for U.N. probe

In another development, Israeli officials said they would not approve the participation of anyone unfriendly to Israel on a U.N. fact-finding team looking into conditions at the Jenin refugee camp, the scene of heavy fighting.

Israeli newspapers said the Israeli government would not accept the presence of Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the Jenin team -- nor would it accept Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. Middle East envoy on the U.N. team.

Gideon Meir, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, refused to talk about specific people, but said no one would be accepted who was "biased against Israel."

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a fact-finding mission to investigate allegations of an Israeli massacre at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. (Full story)

Palestinians have said Israeli troops killed as many as 500 people during their offensive in Jenin. Israel strongly denies the allegation, saying the death toll was closer to 50.

Roed-Larsen toured the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday. In an interview with CNN afterward, he called the conditions there "horrifying and shocking." Roed-Larsen estimated about 2,000 people were homeless, but said he was not prepared to judge whether any massacre had taken place. (CNN Access)

Doctors at Jenin Hospital said Saturday that 43 bodies from the Jenin camp had been brought for burial. U.N. relief officials said they believed other bodies remained buried in the rubble.

The IDF posted two aerial pictures on its Web site Sunday that it said proves the Jenin camp was not damaged as badly as Palestinians and international observers have claimed.

The IDF said the first picture was of Jenin and its refugee camp before the Israeli incursion began. The second, more detailed picture was identified as a picture of the camp on April 13, six days before Israel troops completed their withdrawal from the city.

An area on the picture was circled and labled as the combat zone, which the Israeli military says covered a 100-meter by 100-meter (100-yard by 100-yard) area. The two pictures are not of the same scale, so it is not possible to tell if the circled area shows new damage; nor are the pictures detailed enough to see if surrounding buildings were damaged.

The IDF pulled out of the camp after arresting 13 suspects, a spokesman said.