Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday toured the devastated Jericho prison where Israel spirited away six prisoners, denouncing the raid as an ”unforgivable crime".

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today that six Palestinians grabbed from a West Bank prison will be charged and tried by Israel, despite Palestinian claims that the arrests were illegal.

ISRAELI forces smashed into a West Bank jail with tanks and bulldozers yesterday, seizing a Palestinian militant leader.

Israeli forces driving bulldozers and firing tank shells burst into a Palestinian prison in the West Bank town of Jericho today and pulled out dozens of inmates in their underwear in a raid targeting a group of prisoners linked to the killing an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Palestinian gunmen today broke into the offices of the German television network ARD in Gaza City, a Palestinian journalist working for the network said.

Palestinian gunmen today abducted two South Korean journalists and two other people from a Gaza City hotel frequented by foreigners, security officials and witnesses said.

Israeli forces burst into a jail today in the West Bank town of Jericho, demanding the surrender of prisoners, including the mastermind of the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister.

Israeli forces burst into a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho today, demanding the surrender of prisoners, including the mastermind of the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister.

Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinian militants as they tried to flee a building in the West Bank town of Nablus today, including the local leader of a small radical faction.

The PFLP, a small PLO faction, have claimed responsibility for kidnapping two foreign teachers from an American school today as they were driving north of Gaza City.

The Hamas militant group won local elections in the West Bank’s largest cities, according to preliminary results released today, dealing a harsh blow to the ruling Fatah party just six weeks ahead of a parliamentary poll.

The Hamas militant group won local elections in the West Bank’s largest cities, according to preliminary results released today, dealing a harsh blow to the ruling Fatah party just six weeks ahead of a parliamentary poll.

THE Israeli army shot dead six Palestinians yesterday and an Israeli special forces officer was killed in a fierce all-night gunfight during a raid on Palestinian militants.

A PALESTINIAN suicide bomber blew himself up at an Israeli train station during morning rush hour yesterday, killing a security guard and injuring 13 people, police and medics said.

The educational role of UNWRA the United Nations Works and Relief Agency that funds and staffs the schools in the Palestinian refugee camps established by Egypt in Gaza and by Jordan in the West Bank deserves urgent attention.

Yasser Arafat today presented a plan for reforming his security services to visiting CIA chief George Tenet, with the Palestinian leader proposing to halve their number and tighten supervision.

Israeli troops entered another West Bank city early today as Washington announced that President George Bush would meet Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon next week in fresh efforts to bring calm to the Middle East and renew peace talks.

Two Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in 24 hours and the arrest of a Palestinian woman Israel said was preparing an attack shows Palestinians still have the will and the means to strike, Israeli officials said.

A Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a busy crossroads today in northern Israel, killing only himself.

Israel today renewed its ultimatum to Yasser Arafat; arrest the assassins of an Israeli Cabinet Minister or remain grounded.

Two Palestinians have been charged in connection with the murder of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.

Two Israel Cabinet ministers and their families have fled their homes after security services told them of plans by Palestinian militants to attack them.

America has a ‘‘modest’’ number of ground troops in Afghanistan, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said.

Israel is insisting that it will hold on to six West Bank towns until its demands are met, despite stiff US criticism of her widest incursion in seven years.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres today put pressure on Yasser Arafat to arrest 10 to 15 Palestinians on the West Bank, saying they were responsible for most of the terror Israel has suffered.

Three Palestinians were killed today as Israeli tanks moved deeper into West Bank towns, tightening their grip on biblical Bethlehem and five other towns in the widest operation against the Palestinians in years.

Israeli-Palestinian violence was escalating again despite US appeals for calm, with six Palestinians and one Israeli dead in a series of incidents two days after the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Palestinian officials have blamed the Israeli Government for an explosion that killed three Palestinians, including a militia leader linked to the Fatah movement, in Bethlehem today.

Israel is demanding that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's forces arrest and hand over the Palestinians who assassinated an Israeli cabinet minister.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has claimed responsibility for the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in Jerusalem this morning.

Israel’s tourism minister was shot dead today in an ambush at a Jerusalem hotel in what a militant Palestinian group said was its revenge for the killing of their leader by Israel.

Israeli tanks rolled into a Palestinian village on the southern fringes of Jerusalem today, killing a Palestinian, in an effort to halt persistent gunfire raining on a nearby Jewish neighbourhood.

The leader of a small PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was killed today by shells fired from Israeli tanks, Palestinian doctors and witnesses said.