Israel Enforces Curfew on West Bank Town of Nablus after two Bomb Laboratories are Found-- Palestinians find "aggression" against peace efforts...

Accompanying an article appearing in the Monday, February 26, 2007 New York Times titled "Israeli Troops Place Curfew on West Bank City", there is a picture of a desolate looking West Bank street, lined with run down Arab shops, and depicting two army vehicles patrolling down the street as, as the caption states, "A Palestinian youth ran from Israeli military vehicles yesterday in Nablus after a curfew had been imposed."--inciting the reader to look at the Israeli forces as oppressors of the poor, peaceful, disenfranchised Palestinian people. To the contrary, however, the military operation (the biggest in the area in two years) came about after Israeli forces discovered two explosives factories in two days in the city, and, if I may be so bold as to say, it looks like the kid is about to pick up a rock and throw it.
In these factories, soldiers found pipe bombs, a hand-held Lau guided missile and launcher (that had belonged to the Israeli Army), and lots of bomb-making materials. The operation to enforce the curfew began Saturday and intensified throughout the night, with 100 Israeli Jeeps and armored vehicles blocking Nablus roadways and troops began sweeps of the historical city. Palestinian responses ranged from people throwing chunks of concrete and stones to the firing of weapons, wounding two Israeli soldiers. Six Palestinians were wounded as well, by rubber coated Israeli bullets, fired in defense.
Nablus, a large city in the West Bank, is known to harbor numerous Palestinian militants, and the Israeli army regularly patrols the area, but this new operation was devised to "trim back" militant groups who were stock piling materials (such as the explosives and rockets found in the bomb factories earlier in the week). Hamas, which is much more secretive in the West Bank than in Gaza has been secretly organizing in Nablus and has been secretly recruiting for a "police force", as the one in Gaza is dominated by the rival Fatah faction.
Some 10,000 people in central Nablus were said to be under curfew, with schools being cancelled and Israeli forces taking control of the TV and radio waves. The crackdown was said to remain in effect for several days. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said this situation will, "undermine the efforts that are being made to sustain the cease-fire with Israel." Additionally, Abbas has said, "This aggression by the Israeli occupation government is like cutting the road forward after all our efforts to find peace." Hamas officials say the raid had meant to undermine efforts at creating a unified Hamas-Fatah government.

Honestly, I see nothing wrong in Israel's actions here. They found BOMB factories--- it is their duty to protect themselves, especially from a group of decentralized guerilla fighters who are ready and willing to sacrifice their own lives to kill Jews and Israelis. How can the Palestinians say that Israelis protecting themselves from bombings is undermining cease fire efforts, when these Palestinians who claim to be in a cease fire are mass producing explosives?
Additionally, I'd like to express my extreme dislike of The New York Times. Its crybaby liberal bias against Israel is pretty ridiculous. First a huge string of articles outlining how corrupt the Knesset is--when there is other more important Israel-related news to print, followed up by articles with a strong bias to the Palestinian cause. All in all, I see nothing wrong with the preventative measures taken by Israel in this situation, and I think the response of Palestinian and Arab leaders to this issue just goes further to show how untrustworthy and unwilling to compromise and reform they really are.