JERUSALEM (Islamweb and News Agencies) - Israeli occupation troops entered Palestinian-controlled territory on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, the first military action since Palestinian gunmen assassinated a senior Israeli cabinet minister.(Read photo caption below) Palestinian officials and witnesses said around eight tanks rolled some 2.5 miles into Palestinian-ruled territory on the southern outskirts of Jenin before dawn. The armor stopped on the edge of Jenin, they said.
Residents in Jenin said they heard no shooting. Israel has raided Jenin at least twice since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted over a year ago. It says the city is a ``hornets nest'' of Palestinian militancy.
Palestinian officials said another 12 tanks were still in an Israeli controlled area north of Jenin.
Israel's cabinet said early on Thursday it reserved the right to enter Palestinian-ruled territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip whenever ``there is an operational need to act against terror.'' After weeks of talk of truce agreements, it said it would play by new rules after Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi was assassinated at a Jerusalem hotel on Wednesday and a leftist Palestinian group claimed responsibility.

PFLP OFFICIALS ARRESTED:

Palestinian security police are reported to have arrested at least two officials belonging to the militant Palestinian group which said it was behind the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister on Wednesday.The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the arrested men - one of whom has been named as Dr Rabah Muhana - were taken into custody in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian security officials declined immediate comment on the reports.
The arrests came after Israel had demanded that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hand over Zeevi's assassins "immediately" or face retaliation as a sponsor of terrorism.Israel's inner cabinet also demanded that Mr Arafat and the Palestinian Authority outlaw radical groups

PHOTO CAPTION:
An Israeli special police unit advances near the Hyatt hotel in east Jerusalem as they secure the area following the shooting of Israel's Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi Wednesday Oct. 17, 2001. Zeevi, Israel's ultra-nationalist tourism minister was killed Wednesday in a shooting ambush in the Jeursalem hotel in revenge for the killing of a leftist Palestinian leader by Israel. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)