Israel’s Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, will meet senior cabinet ministers tomorrow to consider withdrawing military forces from Palestinian-ruled areas in the West Bank, political sources said today. At least 15 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis in the area in the last 24 hours.
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Mr Ariel Sharon
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The US, Israel's closest ally and donor of $3 billion in annual aid, told Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian-controlled areas, where Israli forces have killed nearly 40 people after the assassination of a right-wing cabinet minister last week.
"He (Sharon) will on Thursday discuss the general situation and the possibility of withdrawing from a few places," a source said.
Israel Radio said a withdrawal was expected to start by the weekend. Israeli troops took up positions last week in or around six West Bank towns and cities.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell reiterated the demand by President George W Bush yesterday for an Israeli pullout today.
Earlier today Israeli forces raided a West Bank village and killed six Palestinians and arrested 11 more they claim were involved in the assassination. At least nine Palestinians died in separate violence in the West Bank overnight.
"We arrested part of the cell that killed the minister, Brigadier-General Yitzhak Gershon the commander of Israel's West Bank brigade said.
He admitted he did not know if the actual assassins were among those detained. "This is the village from which the killers...come from," he said.
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A Palestinian girl looks out from behind her demolished home in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip yesterday.
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Gen Gershon rejected Palestinian allegations that the army had carried out a massacre in the village of Beit Reema, near the city of Ramallah. He said his troops had come under attack by Palestinian gunmen and returned fire.
He said 11 people were arrested, among them members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - the group that claimed responsiblity for killing Mr Ze'evi - and Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Nine Palestinians died in overnight violence, with five killed by Israeli fire in two separate incidents near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, and another 22-year-old man died in east Jerusalem after being shot by an Israeli commando unit, Palestinian sources said.
The latest deaths brought to 38 the number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli military offensive in the West Bank was launched on October 18th. No Israelis have died.