NABLUS, West Bank ? Israeli troops searched house-to-house Saturday as tanks patrolled deserted streets in four Palestinian cities and towns in a sweep of the West Bank that has rounded up dozens of suspected militants over the past two days.

In Nablus, scene of the biggest operation, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces, witnesses say.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is under strong pressure to restructure his government, has been staging talks on overhauling his large Cabinet.

In the coming days, he is likely to reduce the number of ministers from 32 to 19, and bring in new faces, according to Palestinian sources.

In an interview to be published today in a Greek newspaper, Arafat said elections would “most probably” be held in 2002, as part of “sweeping” reforms in the Palestinian Authority.

“Very soon, there will be elections for president and legislators,” Arafat said in the interview with the Athens daily Vradini. “Very soon. Most probably within 2002.”

But the senior Israeli official in the West Bank and Gaza Strip said any reforms Arafat was likely to agree to would only be cosmetic as long as he controls the flow of money to Palestinian institutions.

“There is no possibility of real reform as long as Yasser Arafat holds in his hands the financial power,” Brig. Gen. Amos Gilead, coordinator of Israeli activities in the Palestinian territories, said in an Israeli television interview.

The Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported Saturday that Arafat would make Mohammed Dahlan, a senior security chief in the Gaza Strip, the top official in the revamped security services.

The developments came as visiting diplomats conducted talks with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a search for ways to end 20 months of Mideast violence. No new peace initiatives emerged.

Arafat on Saturday played host to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who said the talks focused on reforming the Palestinian security system, rebuilding Palestinian infrastructure damaged in recent Israeli military actions, and how to restart peace negotiations, which collapsed more than a year ago.

Sharon met U.S. Middle East envoy William Burns on Friday, and the Israeli leader repeated his position that there would be no negotiations until there is an end to violence.