Israel Strikes Back At Universities

Israel shut down two Palestinian universities in the divided town of Hebron on Wednesday, while Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians in West Bank clashes, officials said.

Israeli forces shut down the Islamic University and the Polytechnic Institute in Hebron as part of its response to a Palestinian suicide bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this month. That attack killed 22 people.

Israeli troops also sealed the homes of four Jerusalem Arabs Wednesday, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. They were convicted of killing 35 people, including five Americans, in a wave of bombings. The Americans were killed last summer, in a cafeteria bombing at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Israel frequently demolishes the homes of terrorists, but it is the first time the measure has been taken in Jerusalem, where Arabs have Israeli identity cards that allow them to move more freely than Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The four were able to move about to plan the bombings, Israeli authorities said.

More than 200 American soldiers arrived in Israel Wednesday for war games, amid concerns that Iraq may strike at Israel in response to a U.S. attack. Israeli and American troops will be testing two missile interceptor systems, the U.S.- made Patriot and the Israeli-made Arrow. The Americans will remain in Israel for the duration of any conflict with Iraq.

Israel was hit by 39 scud missiles during the Gulf War in 1991

The front gate of the Polytechnic Institute was closed with an iron bar. Troops surrounded the school and imposed a curfew on the neighborhood. Stone-throwing clashes erupted between students and troops, who fired rubber-coated metal bullets at the demonstrators.

Some students at the universities belong to militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and use its facilities to plan and carry out attacks, the army said in a statement.

In the east Jerusalem retaliation, concrete filled the homes and made them uninhabitable. The multi-story buildings were not torn down because they included additional apartments where other families lived, Israeli police said.

A home belonging to a fourth Hamas member in the group was partially blown up, and then bulldozers demolished the remainder, police said.

At the recent trial of the four, the group's leader was convicted and received 35 consecutive life terms. Two other members were also given life in prison, while the fourth received a 60-year sentence.

Palestinians condemn the destruction of homes as collective punishment.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Palestinian factions were trying to reach agreement on a possible ceasefire, but had failed so far. Hamas and other militant groups have rejected appeals by Arafat to halt attacks against Israel.

Arafat also criticized recent Israeli military actions.

The Israelis "are continuing their military escalation against our people, lands, institutions, women and children everywhere," Arafat said.

In the town of Tulkarem, Israeli troops entered a refugee camp to arrest suspected militants, the army said. Gun battles and stone-throwing clashes erupted at the entrance to the camp, Palestinian witnesses said.

A Palestinian detonated several bombs, and soldiers fired and killed him, the army said. Palestinian hospital officials said Mouhi Aldin Hamza, 16, was killed in the clash, though it was not clear whether he was the same person the army was referring to.

A second 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli troops in stone-throwing clashes that erupted later in Tulkarem, Palestinian witnesses and officials said. Soldiers shot and hit at least two Palestinians who were hurling firebombs at troops, the army said, adding that one of those people was apparently killed.

In Kabatiya village in the northern West Bank, Israeli troops surrounded a building where two suspected militants were hiding, and demanded that the pair surrender, Palestinian witnesses said.

A gun battle erupted between the soldiers and the gunmen, and at one point a third Palestinian man began walking toward the troops, the army said. The man ignored warnings to stop, and troops shot him dead, fearing he was a suicide bomber.

However, no explosives or other weapons were found on the man, the army said. Relatives identified the man as Ribhi Zakarna, 42, and said he was mentally ill. The two Palestinian gunmen inside the house eventually surrendered, witnesses said.

Overall, more than 20 suspected Palestinian militants were arrested in West Bank sweeps overnight, the army said Wednesday morning.