Two dozen Fatah gunmen shooting guns in the air disrupted final high school exams in the West Bank today, after education officials rejected their demand to be allowed to take the tests in a separate room.

Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh insisted today that his Hamas movement’s 6,000-strong militia be recognised as a branch of the Palestinian security forces.

Palestinian security forces know the whereabouts of kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying today.

Israeli troops raided a Palestinian military HQ early today and arrested 18 fugitives who had sought shelter there, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Three US women who were kidnapped in the West Bank today have been freed, say Palestinian security officials.

Rival Palestinian leaders have signed an agreement on a power-sharing government in Saudi-brokered talks.

Palestinian security forces blocked main Gaza Strip road junctions today, burning tyres and snarling traffic in protest at the Hamas government’s inability to pay their salaries.

In a direct message to Hamas’ interior minister in Gaza, Israeli jet fighters destroyed his office early today, intensifying an air invasion while delaying a broad ground offensive to give Arab mediators a last chance to gain the release of a kidnapped soldier.

Israel’s security chiefs have met to discuss the Jewish state’s response to a suicide bombing at a packed Tel Aviv fast-food restaurant during the Passover holiday that killed nine people and injured dozens.

A Palestinian militant with ties to Hamas was killed yesterday in a car bomb in Gaza, unleashing factional unrest that left three others dead and 35 wounded, in the first direct threat to the Islamic group’s new government.

The armed wing of the Islamic Hamas will not join Palestinian security forces, a spokesman for the militant group was quoted as saying today, commenting on possible changes as the Islamic group works toward setting up a new government.

Two masked gunmen kidnapped an Egyptian diplomat as he travelled in his car to the Egyptian representative office in Gaza City.

A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber trying to enter Israel blew himself up yesterday at a military checkpoint set up to foil attackers, killing an Israeli soldier and two other Palestinians.

Palestinian security forces set up roadblocks throughout the southern Gaza Strip today as they stepped up a search for three British citizens abducted by Palestinian gunmen, the latest in a wave of kidnappings of foreigners in the chaotic area.

Palestinian security forces were today negotiating with gunmen who kidnapped a British human rights worker and her parents, a security official said, the latest in a wave of kidnappings of foreigners in the chaotic Gaza Strip.

Palestinian security forces are negotiating with the gunmen who kidnapped a British woman and her parents as they entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt, a security official said today.

About two dozen gunmen today briefly seized Bethlehem’s city hall on Manger Square and near the Church of the Nativity, demanding jobs in the Palestinian security forces.

An Israeli airstrike today killed two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip and a Palestinian man fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, intensifying a new round of violence in the wake of a suicide bombing at an Israeli shopping centre this week.

Palestinian security forces sealed off Gaza’s southern border early today halting a flood of people into Egypt following the Israeli withdrawal from the area.

Thousands of triumphant Palestinians poured into abandoned Jewish settlements early today, setting buildings on fire, ripping out window frames and shooting in the air.

ABOUT 100 masked militants stormed the heavily guarded home of Gaza’s former security chief early yesterday, dragged him out in his pyjamas and killed him in a burst of gunfire — a brazen challenge to the Palestinian Authority days before Israel was to hand over Gaza.

A mysterious blast after nightfall tonight levelled a building in Gaza City, killing four people and wounding at least 30, residents and hospital officials said.

Palestinian security forces and Hamas militants exchanged gunfire in a crowded Gaza City neighbourhood today.

Israel has agreed to hand over the West Bank town of Jenin to the Palestinians before withdrawing from four nearby West Bank settlements and the Gaza Strip this summer, the Palestinian Interior Ministry said today.

Israel’s military chief today said that Palestinian attacks on Israeli troops trying to evacuate Gaza Strip settlements this summer could cause a temporary delay in the pullout, but would not force it to be canceled.

THE Palestinian security forces yesterday executed four men convicted of murder, three of them by hanging.

An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian fugitive were killed in a West Bank shoot-out today, part of a marked increase in tension in recent weeks despite a three-month-old truce.

ARMED Palestinian militants shut down a government building in the West Bank yesterday.

ISRAELI troops handed the quiet West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinian security control yesterday, dismantling checkpoints and easing travel restrictions in what was seen as a message to ordinary Palestinians that an informal truce is starting to pay off.

Israeli troops today killed an armed Palestinian militant who was planning attacks on Israelis, during a raid on his West Bank home, the army said, in a development that could further destabilise a fragile truce.

A DAY after firing his top security commanders, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas went to the Gaza Strip yesterday to demand militant leaders stop attacking Israelis.

Palestinian gunmen broke into Gaza City’s central prison today, exchanged fire with guards and killed three prisoners as part of long-running family feuds, police said.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders will declare a formal end to more than four years of fighting at tomorrow’s Red Sea summit, both sides said tonight.

Militant groups have agreed to halt their attacks as they near a final cease-fire deal with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and await Israel’s response to their moves, a senior Palestinian official said today.

Islamic militant group Hamas joined in the mood of optimism in Gaza today and signalled it would suspend rocket attacks on Israel.

Palestinian security forces started deploying in the northern Gaza Strip today in an effort to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli targets and stave off a threatened Israeli military offensive.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas summoned militant leaders to ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip today, with his political survival depending on agreement by the armed groups to halt attacks against Israel.

In a first step against militants, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered his security forces today to try to prevent attacks against Israel and to investigate a shooting at a Gaza Strip crossing that killed six Israeli civilians last week.

Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas reached out to Israel today, pledging that his first order of business after next week’s election is to seek a renewal of peace talks.

Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Bethlehem under heavy security this evening for Christmas celebrations.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament yesterday he is determined to press ahead with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told parliament today he is determined to press ahead with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, but remains open to peace talks with the Palestinians after their violent uprising ends.

Israeli aircraft fired two missiles today at Palestinian security forces in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, killing one man and injuring seven, Palestinian medical officials said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat today ordered an investigation into the shooting of a key critic of his unrelenting grip on power as Palestinian officials warned of dire consequences for law and order in their territory.