Abul Abbas, the Palestinian mastermind of the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro passenger ship in which an American tourist was killed, has died in US custody in Iraq.

As the Israeli and Palestinian prime minister prepared to meet to discuss their next peace moves, Israeli army trucks were removing equipment from a military base near Bethlehem today.

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

A Briton has been arrested in Jerusalem on suspicion of having been sent by a Lebanese guerrilla group to carry out a terrorist attack, officials in Israel said yesterday.