Israeli troops began dismantling uninhabited West Bank settlements today, taking down a few of the dozens of outposts that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is obliged to remove under a US-backed peace plan.

PALESTINIAN gunmen opened fire on Friday on two Israeli cars near a Jewish settlement in the southern West Bank, killing four people and injuring three others, the army and rescue officials said.

Prominent Jewish settlers have asked their government to expel or assassinate Yasser Arafat as payback for a growing number of attacks on Israelis.