Palestinian Factions Plot Revenge

NABLUS, West Bank, Feb. 19 � Over sugary coffee and hot mincemeat sandwiches, the young men gathered here to plot revenge.

They were all in their 20's, an age that might lead such a group to talk about soccer or romance. But as Israeli forces once again scoured the casbah for militants, representatives of the "military wings" of several main Palestinian factions relaxed on overstuffed sofas in a living room elsewhere in the city to talk strategy, politics and death.

Each of the seven men had a pistol at his belt and a mobile phone close at hand, in case their lieutenants outside spotted soldiers. One had had to make an escape from here over the rooftops before; the walls of the hallway downstairs were pitted with bullet holes from that unwelcome Israeli visit.

"If anything happens," one of them said, holding up his gun, "we're not going to be arrested."

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