Israelis sweep back into Nablus

Israeli troops and armoured vehicles raided the West Bank city of Nablus today as the US stepped up diplomatic efforts to cool the conflict.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said preparations were under way for a peace conference this summer but no venue or date had been set.

In the Nablus raid, which the Israeli army said was "to prevent terror attacks", a Palestinian policeman and another man were killed when a gun battle broke out.

Israeli soldiers took over several buildings and were reported to have arrested up to 15 Palestinians. The army said its troops would leave at the end of the mission.

The latest violence erupted as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan disbanded a UN investigation into what Palestinians claim was a massacre by Israeli troops in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank last month.

President Bush put an optimistic spin on the crisis gripping the region since the collapse of peace talks shortly before the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation 19 months ago.

After meeting EU leaders, Mr Bush said he believed progress is being made towards ending the violence and spoke about a US-European vision of a Palestinian state living side by side in security with Israel.

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