Jubilant Palestinians fired guns in the air and sounded car horns today, after Israeli troops pulled out of the last of four abandoned Jewish West Bank settlements, completing the final phase of the withdrawal it began in Gaza last month.

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 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has raised fears old wounds would be reopened and the fragile Palestinian-Israeli truce might be threatened.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and incoming Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas have talked about a future meeting, signalling an end to the diplomatic freeze and possible new peace talks.

Senior Israeli and Palestinian officials are scheduled to meet in Britain next week for private talks, the first such contact between the two sides since the death of Yasser Arafat.

Top candidates to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian leader:

Senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s son and Yasser Arafat’s security adviser, were meeting in London today at the start of a two-day conference on implementation of a US-backed peace plan.

THE new Palestinian Cabinet, stacked with ministers hand-picked by Yasser Arafat, is set to win approval by parliament this week but may have trouble renewing talks with Israel, lawmakers said yesterday.

ISRAEL yesterday rejected a truce from Yasser Arafat and instead demanded the Palestinian Authority crack down on militant groups.

Israel has vowed not to negotiate with any new government hand-picked by Yasser Arafat, in the first public warning to those trying to topple beleaguered Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Yasser Arafat has appealed to Palestinian militants to halt attacks on Israelis – and his newly-appointed security adviser urged Washington to restrain Israel – in a bid to give the US-backed peace plan another chance.

Israeli commandos snatched two wounded Palestinian gunmen from their West Bank hospital beds in a pre-dawn raid today.

THE militant group Hamas threatened revenge yesterday after Israel killed four of its members in a missile strike and declared anyone in the group a target for “liquidation.”

Palestinian leader humiliated

BELEAGUERED Palestinian President Yasser Arafat faced new pressure yesterday after an Israeli newspaper said the army expected him to be sidelined by his own people in six months.

Israeli forces have captured two armed Palestinians approaching a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian woman and her two-year-old daughter were shot dead today while riding in a taxi in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinians, who claimed Israeli troops were responsible.

The Palestinian Authority was in turmoil today, after two security chiefs defied dismissal orders, mounting a challenge to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Yasser Arafat’s agreement to allow the deportation of 13 suspected militants holed up in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity has angered many Arabs who see it as an ideological betrayal of the Palestinians’ long struggle for independence.

Prime minister Ariel Sharon was today on his way back to Israel after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a pool hall packed with teenagers, killing himself and 15 others.

Scores of Palestinian gunmen were today under siege inside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity hiding from Israeli troops, helicopters and tanks that invaded the city in an offensive aimed at crushing Palestinian militias in the West Bank.

Israeli premier Ariel Sharon today offered Yasser Arafat a one way ticket into exile as Israeli forces shelled a heavily fortified Palestinian security headquarters.

Some 200 Palestinians who were holed up in the offices of West Bank Preventive Security Service chief Jibril Rajoub in Beitunya, west of Ramallah, surrendered to Israeli defence force troops this afternoon, according to reports.

Israeli tanks and assault helicopters have launched an attack on the hillside headquarters of the Palestinian security chief.

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

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself into martydom in the heart of Jerusalem today, killed two others and dealt yet another grievous blow to peace hopes.

Mideast truce talks ended in failure early today as both sides argued over who should take the first steps, and hours later Israeli soldiers raided three West Bank villages.

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 forces clashed with Palestinians today at a refugee camp and entered a town after a woman suicide bomber blew herself up at an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank.

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.

Israel was blamed today for the killing of an Islamic militant who died in a car bomb explosion in the West Bank town of Nablus.

An explosion has destroyed the one-story Hebron office of Fatah, the party of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

America was today stepping up its Middle East peace efforts as the week-old ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians looked close to collapse amid continuing violence and killings.

Israel and the Palestinians were today no nearer a ceasefire, as security commanders traded angry accusations amid numerous outbreaks of violence.

An Israeli motorist was killed in a shooting ambush in the West Bank today, as Israeli and Palestinian security commanders prepared for talks on the implementation of a US-sponsored ceasefire plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today rejected a proposal that his foreign minister meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying there can be no negotiations as long as sporadic violence continues.

Israel today accepted a US ceasefire proposal aimed at ending eight months of fighting with the Palestinians but appears to have little confidence in its success.

The fate of a ceasefire proposal drawn up by CIA director George Tenet lies in the hands of the Palestinians, says a leading Israeli.

The militant Hamas, which carried out the beachfront suicide bombing in Israel, today joined a ceasefire called by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as world leaders work to keep the lid on Middle East violence.

The home of a West Bank security chief was attacked by an Israeli tank today after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended his decision to use war planes against Palestinian targets.