Israeli armored vehicles enter Ramallah

Operation comes hours before White House meeting

Armored vehicles take positions in Ramallah early Monday.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Israeli forces poured into the Palestinian town of Ramallah early Monday, just hours before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's scheduled meeting with President Bush at the White House in Washington.

Israeli infantry, accompanied by as many as 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers, entered the city at about 4 a.m. (9 p.m. ET Sunday) and took key positions.

They were seen surrounding the al-Amari refugee camp and the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Palestinian news media reported. Arafat was thought to be inside the compound.

Helicopter gunships could be seen circling the city, and tank and heavy machine gun fire also could be heard.

The Israel Defense Forces called the incursion a "short operation" aimed at arresting a list of Palestinian terrorist suspects. It also said its operation was to root out hidden "explosive laboratories, bomb factories and weapons caches" in the city.

IDF reported arresting nine Palestinians in Ramallah. Palestinian Authority officials were not immediately available for comment.

Two Israeli soldiers were injured in fighting with Palestinian gunmen, the IDF said. One Palestinian was killed and three injured during the operation, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

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Israeli troops raided Arafat's Ramallah compound just last Wednesday in response to last week's suicide car-bombing that killed 17 Israelis on a bus in northern Israel.

Israeli forces kept the compound under siege from March 29 to May 2, lifting it when six Palestinian militants were transferred to a Jericho jail. Five of the six were wanted by Israel in the October killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

Sharon, who arrived Sunday in Washington, was expected to tell Bush there can be no progress on peace until Arafat is pushed aside. Israeli newspapers carried articles Friday saying Sharon had made up his mind to expel Arafat but had not decided when to do so.

In an editorial in Sunday's The New York Times, he wrote that Israel "cannot negotiate under fire."

"Israel has made painful concessions for peace before and will demonstrate diplomatic flexibility to make peace again, but it requires first and foremost a reliable partner for peace," Sharon wrote.

Bush met Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the peace process. Bush said he wasn't ready to outline a specific timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state but said all parties involved must "seize the moment."

The United States was not warned of Sunday's Israeli military operation, said a senior administration official, who wished not to be named.

"Let's see what happens here," the official said. "Sometimes Israel defending itself ... has launched quick incursions."

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said, "We are monitoring the situation and have no immediate comment."

In other West Bank operations, IDF forces arrested nine "wanted Palestinians" in sweeps through Beit-Awa, west of Hebron; Azun, east of Qalqilya; and Zeita, north of Tulkarem.

All detainees were taken in for questioning by Israeli security forces, according to the IDF.

PA arrests Islamic Jihad leaders

On Sunday, Palestinian officials announced that security forces had arrested two senior leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told CNN Abdullah Alshami was picked up by Palestinian security forces. Other Palestinian security sources said Muhammed Al-Hindi also was arrested.

The group claimed responsibility for last week's car bombing. (Full story)

Elsewhere, 25 Palestinians were taken to a hospital early Monday after an explosion rocked a house in Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.

Palestinian police and residents said it was likely that the explosion occurred while someone in the house was making bombs.

Arafat shakes up government

In the face of international pressure to make changes quickly, Arafat gave up his interior minister post Sunday and said presidential elections would take place by the end of the year or early 2003.

Arafat appointed Abdel Razak Al-Yahya to replace him as interior minister. From that position, Arafat has controlled 12 Palestinian security agencies.

The Haifa-born Al-Yahya has a long history of association with Palestinian security issues. He was an officer in the Syrian Army during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and had been serving as chairman of the committee of security and borders in recent talks with Israel. (Full story)

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Arafat was expected to issue two decrees in the next few days -- one announcing a presidential election and the other local government elections.

"The selection of a new minister of interior means that there will be some major changes in the security apparatus," Erakat said, indicating the overhaul would be announced soon.

Arafat's Sunday announcement detailed a Cabinet shuffle that reduced the number of Palestinian ministers to 20 from 32. Erakat said that the move was "preparation for building the institution of a Palestinian state."

Dore Gold, a senior adviser to Sharon, said a Cabinet shuffle would have little meaning if violence continues to be the prime mode of communication on the ground.

"The proof [of reforms] will be whether the situation on the ground will be fundamentally different tomorrow than it was yesterday," Gold said.

"The real question is not just a political science question of how many ministers there are. The real question is whether Mr. Arafat will abandon violence, and that can only be seen on the ground."

The White House had no formal reaction to Sunday's announcement, but one senior Bush administration official said the president "wants to see meaningful reform."