US Secretary of State Colin Powell faces a Herculean task next week in the Middle East as the Bush administration tries to pry Israeli forces off the West Bank and get Yasser Arafat to control terrorists.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged Israel to stop its assault on Yasser Arafat’s headquarters, saying destroying it will not bring peace.

Israel declared Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat an enemy today and sent tanks and troops charging into his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah, sparking a battle with security forces.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has said he is 'ready to implement an immediate unconditional ceasefire'.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today set an extremely tough condition on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat being allowed to attend tomorrow’s crucial Arab summit in Beirut.

Despite US pressure to enable Yasser Arafat to join this week’s crucial Arab summit, Israel will not lift the travel ban on the Palestinian leader unless he takes decisive steps against militants, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet key Cabinet ministers today to decide whether to allow Yasser Arafat to attend this week’s crucial Arab summit in Beirut.

The US has presented proposals to overcome Israeli and Palestinian differences about a truce agreement.

Israeli troops have shot and killed two Palestinians who attacked an army post with grenades, and militant Islamic groups said they would ignore any truce deal, complicating US efforts to arrange a ceasefire.

As Mideast truce talks resumed today, a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated his deadly package at an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank, killing himself and wounding an officer.

George Bush says Yasser Arafat has to do a better job of curbing violence against Israel.

George Bush says Yasser Arafat has to do a better job of curbing violence against Israel.

Israel was tonight holding back from retaliating after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a packed rush hour bus, killing seven other passengers including four Israeli soldiers.

At least three people were killed and 28 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in northern Israel at the beginning of the morning rush hour today, officials and Israel radio station said.

Israel and the Palestinians were tonight heading toward a ceasefire deal and it appeared Israel might withdraw its troops from the West Bank town of Bethlehem before midnight.

Israeli troops pulled out of the Bethlehem area early today, Palestinians said, boosting chances for a truce to end nearly 18 months of violence.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are believed to be close to a ceasefire deal, with Israel expected to withdraw its troops from the West Bank town of Bethlehem by midnight tonight.

Inching toward a truce, Israeli and Palestinian security officials met under US supervision today.

America’s vice president Dick Cheney was today visiting Israel to throw his weight behind a US peace plan, after another day of Middle East bloodshed.

Ariel Sharon has condemned a shooting in Kfar Saba a day after details of a possible ceasefire was announced between Israelis and Palestinians.

Claims that meetings were to be held between Israeli and Palestinian officials today have been denied by Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.

Israeli tanks pulled out of three Palestinian towns in the West Bank early today, just hours after US envoy Anthony Zinni arrived in the Middle East in an attempt to broker a ceasefire.

Palestinian security officials said the 250 Israeli tanks that moved into Ramallah on Tuesday, paralysing the West Bank commercial and administrative centre, began rolling out of the town and the adjacent Amari refugee camp after 2am.

Israel has intensified its military offensive by killing at least 21 Palestinians in raids in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Israeli troops and tanks moved into a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Ramallah early today, killing at least 17 Palestinians in their largest offensive in 17 months of conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he is ready to lift the virtual house arrest of Yasser Arafat, but military strikes against Palestinian targets will go on.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he is prepared to negotiate with Palestinians on a truce.

Israeli helicopters and gunboats have destroyed the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza city.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has spoken by phone with US Secretary of State Colin Powell to ask the US to intervene in the Middle East conflict.

Israeli forces killed 32 Palestinians today, including two children and a general - the deadliest day in 17 months of fighting.

Hundreds of Palestinian gunmen have converged on a hospital in Gaza after a top security commander was killed.

Israel has killed at least 24 Palestinians this morning as the violence in the Middle East continues to escalate on a daily basis.

Twenty Palestinians, including a top commander, were killed in Israeli raids before daybreak today in the West Bank and Gaza, after a Palestinian gunman infiltrated into a Jewish settlement in Gaza and killed five Israelis, one of the bloodiest days in 17 months of fighting.

The Palestinians have insisted that Israel must end its occupation to make way for a Palestinian state to bring peace to the region - a view backed by many Arab and non-Arab countries alike.

Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli soldier and wounded another in a retaliatory shooting hours after a Palestinian militia leader was killed by a bomb as he emerged from his West Bank hideout.

Anthony Zinni, Washington’s Middle East peace envoy, ended a four-day mission today without a formal truce agreement.

Israel today displayed 50 tons of missiles, mortars, and mines seized on a ship and accused the Palestinians of plotting ‘‘the next wave of terror’’.

Israel has insisted that a shipment of arms it intercepted in the Red Sea last week was intended for the Palestinian Authority, despite US suggestions that it may have belonged to Hamas or the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

A U.S. truce envoy pressed ahead with his mission today amid new Israeli charges that the Palestinian Authority is engaged in terrorism and tried to smuggle 50 tons of Iranian-made rockets and other weapons into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers have killed at least one Palestinian in a raid on the village of Tel in the West Bank today.

Israel withdrew from two West bank towns and lifted some Palestinian travel restrictions today.

The American envoy Anthony Zinni is heading to the Middle East this week to try and rescue flagging peace attempts.

US envoy Anthony Zinni is returning to the Middle East for a second mission aimed at reaching an Israeli-Palestinian truce and relaunching peace talks.

Palestinian and Israeli security commanders have resumed their meetings, signalling a softening of an Israeli policy breaking off contact with the Palestinian Authority after a string of suicide attacks.