How to delete dom element from jquery object

i want to delete a particular class from my object as my requirement is to delete that dom data before displaying content. I have written a sample code but not able to get why that is not working. I jquery's remove is also not working. Please help me to get it solve. Thanks in advance

<html>
<head>
<title>test</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-1.5.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  $(document).ready(function() {

    // complete html
    var test;
    test = $('#issue_detail_first_row').html();

    var x = $(test).find('#issue_detail_nav').not('.p1');

    $('#sett').html(x);
 });

</script>
 </head>
 <body>
 <div id="issueDetailContainer">
        <div  id="issue_detail_first_row">
            <div>
                <div id="issue_detail_nav">
                    <div>test</div>
                    <div id="gett">
                        <div class="p1">
                            this content need to be deleted 1
                        </div>
                    </div>

                    <div class="p1">
                        this content need to be deleted 2
                    </div>

                </div>
            </div>                
        </div>
        <br/><br/><br/><br/>
<div id="sett">
</div>