Islamic Jihad leader arrested as Israeli tanks roll into Gaza again

Having swiftly absolved themselves of blame in the recent killing of a dozen unarmed Palestinian civilians, Israel's armed forces were back in business in the occupied territories yesterday, as tanks roared into a Palestinian-ruled town in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli police sharply stepped up security for fear of a Palestinian attack over this weekend's Jewish new year holiday, but early yesterday the Israeli army was the one on the offensive.

Tanks and armoured troops swept into Deir el Balah in central Gaza overnight, and soldiers arrested a local leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the most hardline of the militias fighting against Israel.

Before withdrawing from the town, the Israeli army – which has been conducting such raids daily – also flattened four buildings which it said were arms factories, and arrested two men.

The operation was further evidence of the failure of the so-called "Gaza and Bethlehem First" understanding, under which Israel's forces were to pull out in return for calm, enforced by the Palestinian Authority. It has taken effect in Bethlehem, but elsewhere in the occupied territories the conflict has continued with Israeli-imposed lock-downs, curfews, and the killing of Palestinian civilians and militiamen.

Although by yesterday evening there had been no suicide bombings for more than four weeks, the Palestinian militias have continued attacks, killing one soldier in Gaza by blowing up an Israeli Merkava-3 tank last week, and another in a gun and grenade attack.

Yesterday's Israeli assault inside Gaza may have been a response to these deaths.

Fears abound of another major bloodletting within Israel, and the authorities claim to have intercepted an enormous car bomb in northern Israel just before the start of the new year.

The lack of any improvement on the ground is matched by the absence of any progress on the diplomatic front. Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, gave a round of new year interviews to the Israeli media in which he claimed to detect "the first sign of cracks with the Palestinians" and the "increasing feeling that it is impossible to defeat Israel through force".

Although many Palestinians are clearly worn down by the intifada – the army closures, endless curfews and their growing poverty – there is little prospect of an end in the conflict unless they see some hope of political progress, but of that there is no sign.

Mr Sharon has talked about seeing the possibility of a diplomatic agreement, but this view is not widely shared by the Palestinians.

Nor is there evidence that he has any intention of addressing their demands for statehood. On Israel Radio yesterday the Prime Minister proclaimed that the Oslo "peace process" no longer existed, and nor did Camp David or Taba – the negotiations of 2000 and early 2001 that sought to settle the issue of a Palestinian state.