The Palestinian Authority has mounted its biggest crackdown on the infrastructure of the radical group Hamas, closing down 16 welfare offices and arresting senior political leaders.
Police mounted a wide sweep of the Gaza Strip last night, arresting dozens of members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and pasting up notices on Hamas offices demanding they remain closed until further notice.
Security sources said several senior members of the group's political leadership were detained. The anti-Hamas offensive, which the international press was invited to witness, came just four days before the resumption of high-level Israeli-Palestinian contacts under US-sponsorship in New York.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, has demanded that the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, get tough with Hamas and other militant groups in areas under his control following two recent multiple suicide bombings in Jerusalem.
A spokesman for Mr Arafat said the police action was meant to "save the lives and money and freedom of the Palestinian citizens from danger. . . . The duty of the Palestinian Authority is to protect the Palestinian people from threats outside and also from some people inside." The raids appear designed to prove the Palestinians have responded to US demands they clamp down on Islamic militant violence. Among the offices targeted by the police action was the the Gaza Strip headquarters of the Islamic Association, considered a key part of the Hamas network in the area.
On Wednesday, Palestinian police raided the headquarters of the Afaq (Horizons) television station in the West Bank city of Nablus and ordered it closed because "inciteful materials" were found.
Mr Arafat's crackdown came after Israel provided proof that four Hamas members who conducted suicide bombings in Jerusalem on July 30th and September 4th came from a village just outside Nablus.
His tough stance came as Israeli and Palestinian officials met separately in Washington this week with US peace envoy Mr Dennis Ross in an attempt to revive full peace negotiations after more than six months of stalemate. They are preparing for a meeting on Monday between US Secretary of State Ms Madeleine Albright, Israeli Foreign Minister Mr David Levy and Palestinian deputy leader Mr Mahmud Abbas.
It will be the highest level Israeli-Palestinian contact since the two suicide bombings which killed 20 Israelis and prompted Mr Net anyahu to suspend implementation of interim peace accords with the Palestinians.
The military wing of Hamas said last night it would hit Israeli targets inside and outside the Jewish state in revenge for what it said was an attempt yesterday to kill a Hamas political leader in Jordan.
David Horovitz writes from Jerusalem: The Israeli government's determination to build more homes for Jews in the settlements which dot the West Bank is badly harming its ties with the US.
An announcement by Mr Net anyahu during a visit to the West Bank settlement of Efrat of plans to build 300 new homes there was received with astonishment in Washington and heavily criticised yesterday by the US ambassador, Mr Martin Indyk.
The decision was particularly unhelpful, Mr Indyk said, given that the Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, was engaged "in an almost full-time effort" to prevent Israel's isolation at the UN.
Ms Albright, according to some reports, expressed concerns in a recent telegram to Mr Netanyahu, blaming him for "delegitimising" Mr Arafat and telling him that the Arab leaders she had met on her recent visit did not trust him and regarded him as an enemy of peace.
A Hamas spokesman in Gaza accused Mr Netanyahu of provoking the Palestinians through settlement-building, and declared that "tens of thousands" of Palestinians were willing to die in suicide attacks against Israel.
David Horovitz is managing editor of the Jerusalem Report