Israeli troops wreck houses

JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops demolished three houses of Palestinian terror suspects Wednesday, while Jewish settler leaders inaugurated a new Jewish settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus.\nIn the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israel maintained its siege of Yasser Arafat's headquarters for a seventh day, ignoring a call by the U.N. Security Council to end operations there and withdraw from Palestinian cities.\nForeign Minister Shimon Peres said Israel would not comply with the resolution because Palestinians are not meeting the Security Council's demands to halt attacks on Israelis and arrest those responsible.\nPeres said Israeli and Palestinian officials were slated to resume negotiations on Wednesday to try to end the standoff at Arafat's compound. But Palestinian officials said a meeting was canceled when Israel wouldn't let foreign officials meet Arafat.\nIsraeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Wednesday that Israel wants 19 terror suspects in Arafat's office to surrender and the rest are not important.\nIsrael has changed its demands several times, according to the Palestinians. Until Ben-Eliezer spoke, Israel said it wanted about 200 people inside the compound surrender. It alleged about 50 of the men, including Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi, have been involved in attacks on Israelis.\nTirawi denied the allegations in an interview with the Israeli daily Maariv. "Yasser Arafat and I will fight to the last minute," Tirawi said.\nA senior Palestinian official said reform is impossible as long as the siege continues. Mahmoud Abbas, a possible candidate for prime minister if the Palestinians appoint someone to share power with Arafat, told The Associated Press, "There is no way to discuss such issues while our president is under such cruel and unprecedented aggression."\nBen-Eliezer said talks were underway to resolve the standoff. But Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat denied that, saying the Palestinians had canceled a meeting with Israeli officials set for Wednesday because Israel refused to allow Arafat to hold talks with foreign dignitaries.\nOn Tuesday, President Bush criticized the Israeli operation, saying it is not helpful in bringing about Palestinian reforms.\nIn the southern West Bank, Israeli troops blew up three houses, including one belonging to the leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas in the town of Hebron, Abdel Khaled Natche, Palestinian witnesses said. Soldiers gave family members 10 minutes to remove belongings before a huge explosion leveled the two-story structure, scattering rubble in all directions.\nIn another demolition, troops blew up the house of the fugitive leader of the Islamic Jihad group in Hebron, Diab Shweiki, who escaped an Israeli missile attack on his vehicle several months ago.\nA third house was leveled in the nearby town of Dura. The three-story building was the family home of brothers Anis and Iyad Amoura, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement.\nIsrael has demolished more than three dozen homes of Palestinian terror suspects since mid-July, in an attempt to deter shooting and bombing attacks. Human rights groups say the practice amounts to collective punishment and is ineffective.\nIn violence Wednesday, 15 Palestinians were wounded, one seriously, in a clash with Israeli soldiers near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in central Gaza, Palestinians said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.\nNear the Palestinian city of Nablus, Jewish settlers on Wednesday celebrated the establishment of Rehalim, describing it as a new settlement of 14 houses that will be home to 24 families.\nSuccessive Israeli governments, including that of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, have said they would expand settlements to accommodate natural population growth, but not establish new ones on land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.\nThe Defense Ministry said it was unaware of the establishment of a new settlement.\nRehalim began in 1991 as an outpost established to mark the spot where Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis. Construction of permanent homes began under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.\nErekat said the Palestinian Authority would protest Rehalim in letters to the United States and Europe, which have called on Israel to halt settlement activity.\nNati Yisraeli, a settler from Rehalim, said eight families that had been living in caravans at the site moved into the permanent housing in the past few days, and in the coming days the remainder of the 14 homes will be populated. Yisraeli said 90 people are living in Rehalim.