Israel is poised to approve more West Bank settlement building today after key leaders defied US pressure and backed the controversial enclaves.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a primary to head the Likud Party in a March election against the leader who abandoned the party, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, just hours before Sharon was to be released from a Jerusalem hospital after treatment for a mild stroke.

Four influential ministers in Ariel Sharon’s Likud Party said tonight they would resign from the government if the prime minister did not agree within two weeks to hold a national referendum on his Gaza withdrawal plan.

Israel has no imminent plans to kill Yasser Arafat, Israel’s vice premier said today after the United States criticised remarks by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he was no longer bound by an earlier promise not to harm the Palestinian leader.

Israeli troops raided the West Bank city of Nablus today, arresting a Hamas leader, Palestinian witnesses said.