IDF forces, including tanks and armored vehicles, remain positioned this morning outside the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. No military action was taken overnight and diplomatic sources denied that American pressure prevented an Israeli action, similar to the IDF incursion into Jenin the previous day.

IDF sources said there was no intention to enter Palestinian-controlled territories in Area A at this time, and stated that the buildup of forces was a repositioning and reinforcement of units already in the area. According to the Voice of Palestine, heavy concentrations of armored units had amassed at the northern and southern ends of Beit Jala.

The IDF imposed a curfew on three nearby Palestinian

"We can no longer accept… Palestinians shooting at Gilo in the early morning." - Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert

villages; according to wire service reports this curfew was lifted by early morning. Fearing an imminent invasion, Palestinian gunmen evacuated military posts in the area.

According to media reports, Israeli forces had earlier occupied three houses in Beit Jala and set up observations points. IDF paratroopers barred residents from entering the houses, and it was unclear how long the homes would be held. The IDF spokesman refused to comment on the reports.

Unprecedented gunfire on Gilo neighborhood
The Israeli troop movements followed a day of heavy gunfire from Palestinian militants in Beit Jala directed at the Gilo neighborhood in south Jerusalem. Palestinians opened fire shortly after daybreak in a possible response to the Jenin action. Most of the previous gunfire exchanges between Beit Jala and Gilo have been at night. An Israeli man, Eli Amar, 51, was wounded yesterday by glass fragments when bullets shattered the windshield of his car as he was driving through Gilo. Eleven apartments and three other vehicles were also damaged by the Palestinian gunfire.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared yesterday that he would ensure that "Gilo would no longer be under fire." Speaking at police headquarters in Jerusalem, Sharon warned that unless the terrorist attacks stop, "the Palestinians will lose additional assets, and they have something to lose,'' noting that Israel already took over the Orient House in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert called for a massive IDF ground operation into Beit Jala. "We can no longer accept such a situation, in which Palestinians shoot at Gilo in the early morning. Not even once more." he said on Israel Radio. Olmert also promised that the second stage of bullet-proofing Gilo apartments, which he described as the most ambitious safety precaution of its kind in a residential neighborhood anywhere in the world, would be completed within 50 days.

Alternative reasons for operation's cancellation
Ha'aretz reported this morning that heavy American pressure led to the cancellation of the Beit Jala ground operation originally planned. The paper claimed the government cancelled the operation after the White House called Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory "provocative" and urged both sides to take steps to restore calm in the region. Israel Radio reported that Sharon told the U.S. envoy David Satterfield that if shots were fired again at Gilo, IDF forces would move into the town.

Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh, (Labor) said the IDF's halt on the edge of Beit Jala did not come in response to American diplomatic pressure. Sneh told Army Radio that the government must take its own policy guidelines into consideration before authorizing and executing field operations.

Israel Radio reported that Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres had intervened to stop the planned operation in Beit Jala. Peres reportedly told Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer that the operation would cause Israel serious diplomatic damage. The radio report added that Peres wanted time to begin negotiating for a cease-fire with the Palestinians.

Palestinian senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said the previous day's entry of Israeli tanks into Jenin was "part of the Israeli plan to undermine the peace process and to undermine the Palestinian Authority. We have been saying that this is Israel's exit strategy from the peace process," he added.

A Palestinian source cited in the Jerusalem Post this morning claimed that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat ordered Tanzim leaders to temporarily halt their gunfire into Gilo. According to an Israel Radio report, Ben-Eliezer based his decision to cancel the planned military operation on concrete efforts by Arafat to stop the gunfire from Beit Jala.

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