Israel postpones Bethlehem withdrawal

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli forces have postponed "indefinitely" their withdrawal from Bethlehem and a neighboring Palestinian town because of continuing violence, Israeli officials said.

Heavy clashes had flared in the West Bank just hours before the pullout from Bethlehem and Beit Jala was due to begin Saturday night. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said no Palestinians were wounded in either town, but one Palestinian died when he was shot in the head in Tulkarem, also in the West Bank.

There will be no pullback as long as the Palestinian Authority does not abide by the agreement it made Friday to stop shooting, a senior aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said.

"There will be no withdrawal tonight from Bethlehem and Beit Jala. In light of continuing violence and shooting... the political echelons have decided to freeze the withdrawals until further notice," an Israeli security source told Reuters.

"If Palestinians keep the calm and their commitments, Israel will re-examine its decision," the source added.

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Fierce fighting broke out in Bethlehem and near Palestinian-ruled Nablus on Saturday only hours before Israel was expected to begin the first phase of the staged withdrawal from Palestinian areas it occupied last week.

Israeli troops had moved into or around six Palestinian-ruled areas following the assassination on October 17 of right-wing Cabinet minister Rehaven Ze'evi.

The planned withdrawal was part of an agreement reached Friday in talks near Tel Aviv during a meeting of Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. officials. All sides said that a timetable for Israel's withdrawal from four other West Bank towns would be worked out in a meeting Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether this meeting would be held.

CNN's Jerrold Kessel said the agreement had only been worked out after "a great deal of prodding" from CIA intelligence officials. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Israel's decision not to withdraw from Bethlehem and Beit Jala was an unfortunate move.

"Once again, we have had an agreement and the Israeli side is violating it. The real problem, I think, is that the Israeli prime minister does not want us ever to go back to negotiations."

Erakat said the Palestinians had been working to ensure calm in the area, and that the Israelis' agreement to pull out had not been conditional.

The United States, among several countries calling for Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank, said its position remained the same.

"We are still calling on the Israelis to withdraw their forces and are calling on the Palestinians to make 100 percent effort to reduce the violence and find those individuals responsible" for Ze'evi's assassination, said a Bush administration official, who asked not to be identified.

Palestinian officials condemned Ze'evi's killing and said they had arrested 33 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which claimed responsibility for the slaying. The Palestinian Authority has also outlawed the PFLP's military branch.

But Israel said its military action was necessary because it did not feel the Palestinian Authority was doing enough to round up Ze'evi's killer or killers. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed during the past week, Palestinian sources said.