Israeli troops round up hundreds of men in search for militants

NABLUS, West Bank -- Israeli troops rolled into a refugee camp on the edge of Nablus on Friday, rounding up hundreds of Palestinian men, imposing a curfew and blowing up the home of a suicide bomber.

Just a few miles from Nablus, a Palestinian gunman was shot dead after infiltrating a Jewish settlement.

The confrontations came as diplomats converged on the region, looking for ways to end, or at least reduce, 20 months of Mideast violence. But no new peace initiatives have emerged.

The almost daily Israeli forays into Palestinian territory, which once drew widespread international criticism, now produce little reaction, aside from Palestinian condemnations.

In his meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cited the possibility of "progress" on the diplomatic front, although he quickly added conditions.

Sharon's office quoted the prime minister as telling Burns of "Israel's position that cessation of terror, violence and incitement and a thorough reform of the Palestinian Authority were conditions for progress in the diplomatic process."

Sharon played host Friday to Burns and Osama el-Baz, adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. CIA Director George Tenet was expected in the region over the weekend.

No date on conference

The United States has proposed an international conference on the Mideast this summer to revive the broken-down peace process, but with ongoing fighting, no date has been set. Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, who was also visiting the region, said, "we are working as hard as necessary to make it come about in the second half of July."

The Israeli troops entered Nablus and the adjacent Balata refugee camp in dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers, saying the incursion was carried out "in the wake of recent murderous attacks."

The camp is a stronghold of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia that has carried out many deadly attacks, and which is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Arafat, speaking in Ramallah, denounced the incursion, saying, "this is Israel's message to the whole world, and proof they do not want to reach any agreement or any political settlement."