HIGHLIGHTS: A Political Process Needs to Be Put Forward to Alleviate the Suffering of Ordinary Palestinians||Israel Kills a Palestinian in Nablus & Destroys a Christian Holy Site||Envoys From the United States, EU & Egypt Coordinate Efforts Ahead of Visit to Washington By President Mubarak of Egypt||STORY: Israeli troops kept their stranglehold on the West Bank city of Nablus and the nearby Balata refugee camp as international envoys pursued efforts to revive Middle East peace talks after 20 months of bloodshed. (Read photo caption)

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday before flying to Saudi Arabia on the latest leg of his regional tour.

Solana said after talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Saturday that the suffering of ordinary Palestinians made it vital to push ahead with fresh peace moves.

"We are determined to see how we can put a political process forward so that we can see an end to this situation which is terrible for the people of Palestine," he told reporters.

ISRAEL KEEPS UP MILITARY RAIDS

But tension remained high as Israel kept up military raids in Palestinian-ruled areas that it says are crucial to stop suicide attacks Arafat is unable or unwilling to prevent.

An Israeli sniper killed a 23-year-old Nablus man near his home on Saturday, Palestinian witnesses and medical officials said.
Occupation troops have meanwhile detained 50 of several hundred people rounded up in Nablus and Balata in incursions launched on Friday. Occupation troops were also operating in the West Bank town of Tulkarm and the Dheisheh refuge camp near Bethlehem.

CHRISTIAN SITE DESTROYED

A Palestinian priest meanwhile said occupation troops had blown up a Christian site in the West Bank. The occupation army claimed it had not known that what it described as a cave used by militants was holy to Christians.

Last month the occupation army ended a 39-day siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, after militants who had taken refuge there agreed to go to the Gaza Strip or to exile in Europe.

ENVOYS TALK PEACE

The United States has sent CIA) director George Tenet to the region to discuss reorganization of the Palestinian security apparatus.

Tenet and William Burns, another U.S. envoy in the region, are to return to Washington before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visits the United States later in the week.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, fresh from talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, said after meeting Mubarak in Egypt on Saturday that it was vital to convene a Middle East conference before diplomatic momentum was lost.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian detainees flash the victory sign prior to release after an investigation by the Israeli occupation army in the west bank refugee camp of Balata near the city of Nablus May 31, 2002. Israeli forces pushed into the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tulkarm and a refugee camp in Bethlehem early on June 1, 2002 arresting more than 100 suspected Resistance men overshadowing a new flurry of peace diplomacy. Photo by Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters

- Jun 01 12:58 PM ET