Israeli troops demolish terror suspects' houses

ISRAELI troops demolished three houses of Palestinian terror suspects yesterday, while Jewish settler leaders inaugurated a new Jewish settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israel maintained its siege of Yasser Arafat's headquarters for a seventh day, ignoring a call by the UN Security Council to end operations there and withdraw from Palestinian cities.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Israel would not comply with the resolution because Palestinians are not meeting the Security Council's demands to halt attacks on Israelis and arrest those responsible. Peres said Israeli and Palestinian officials were slated to resume negotiations yesterday to try to end the standoff at Arafat's compound.