Israeli occupation troops and armour stormed into Hebron while undercover troops killed two in Tulkarem, as Israeli right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tried to corral the Labour party into a national unity coalition. Israeli public radio said the Hebron operation, which could last several days, came in response to a series of attacks in the areas, which have killed 22 occupation soldiers and Jewish settlers since November.

Detentions & Injuries in Hebron, Al-Khalil

Occupation army officials said five Palestinians were detained as 20 armoured vehicles deployed in the city centre. Palestinian officials said the occupation troops had also shut down a television and two radio stations.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz warned this month the occupation army would crack down in the Hebron area, where Palestinian resistance groups have carried out a number of bloody attacks on internationally illegal Jewish settlers and the occupation soldiers protecting them.

Around 600 hardline settlers live under massive Israeli occupation army protection in Hebron, surrounded by about 120,000 Palestinians.

Tulkarem Deaths

A Palestinian resistance activist was also killed in a raid by an undercover Israeli unit on a cafe in Tulkarem, while a second man identified as a civilian was killed in the crossfire. Another six Palestinians were wounded.

And Israeli occupation troops also wounded 20 Palestinians in clashes during a foray into the northern West Bank village of Tamun, near Jenin, the village mayor said.

Two other Palestinians were injured by Israeli tank fire on their taxi in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

An Israeli occupation army official said the tank fired on suspects spotted preparing to fire a homemade Qassam missile into Israel.

Sharon Woos Labor

The raids came just two days after Sharon was returned to office -- the first premier to be re-elected since the 1980s -- on a renewed pledge to break the 28-month Palestinian uprising that has cost close to 3,000 lives, nearly three-quarters of them Palestinians.

Sharon swept to victory on his uncompromising refusal to open talks with the Palestinians until they surrender their weapons and drop leader Yasser Arafat. The steel-edged position inflicted a historic defeat on the centre-left Labour, which promised to renew peace talks.

Despite his resounding win, snatching 37 out of 120 parliamentary seats, Sharon has to build a stable coalition to steer the country out of the bloody conflict and the worst economic crisis in its 54-year history.

His goal is to lure Labour into a national unity government, together with the secular centre-right Shinui party, which made massive gains in Tuesday's vote with a campaign against the privileges enjoyed by the country's ultra-Orthodox Jews.

But Labour's dovish leader Amram Mitzna has refused to join any coalition headed by his hardline rival, refusing to repeat the party's 22-month cohabitation which ended in last October's Labour walk-out and precipitated the early elections.

If Sharon fails to woo Labour, he will have to base his government on Shiunui and tougher right-wing factions, as Shinui has refused to join any long-term government with the extremely religious Shas party, a traditional kingmaker in Israeli coalition building.

Sharon fears a far-right government could limit his room for manoeuver if the United States exerts pressure on Israel to tackle the crisis after an expected confrontation with Iraq, in particular forcing Israel to dismantle some settlements in the occupied territories.

A far-right coalition with a small majority of fractious minor parties would make for a bumpy ride for the 74-year-old former general, and could plunge the country into new elections, analysts predict.

Press reports said Sharon planned to "corner" Labour by raising the spectre of a new vote shortly after elections which opinion polls showed were not welcomed by the majority of Israelis, who want to see a united front in the drawn-out crisis.

He also intends to use the looming threat of war with Iraq, and the risk of Scud missiles hitting Israel as they did in the 1991 Gulf War, to turn up the heat on Labour.

Analysts say Labour, shocked by the collapse of the peace process and deeply divided by its former cohabitation with Sharon, could split over whether to join the government.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian youth throws a bottle at an Israeli army tank in H