Israel begins withdrawal from Nablus, parts of Ramallah

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel has begun pulling its forces out of the West Bank town of Nablus and parts of Ramallah on Saturday, Israeli military sources tell CNN.

About 10 armored personnel carriers could be seen moving from Ramallah south toward Jerusalem, and some military flares could be seen in the nighttime sky. Electricity was also off in some parts of town.

The Ramallah withdrawal will not include the compound of Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, or the area surrounding it, the sources said.

Israeli forces have surrounded Arafat's compound for weeks, saying they want to isolate him and also take custody of several Palestinians inside who are suspected in the October 17 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rachavam Ze'evi.

Arafat has offered to put the suspects on trial in the Palestinian Authority, but a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Palestinians had their chance to put them on trial. (Full story)

The Ramallah pullout could take several days, the sources said. The withdrawal from Nablus could be completed by Sunday. Israeli troops could be seen packing up their gear Saturday night in Nablus.

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Meanwhile, the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where about 200 Palestinians are holed up, continued Saturday with no apparent progress on ending the crisis.

When Israeli troops withdrew from Jenin on Friday they redeployed in a cordon around the town and the refugee camp. Israeli forces are expected to do the same around Nablus and Ramallah.

Search and rescue teams operating in Jenin said Saturday they are taking "a more cautious approach," because of the dangers of the recovery effort. (Full story)

Guy Siri, the regional deputy director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said there were still unexploded bombs and Israeli shells lying around the camp and that several people have been injured in explosions and by falling rubble.

In addition, he said, the scene had become chaotic because families desperately looking for relatives had brought their own bulldozers and other equipment into the camp.

So far, doctors at Jenin Hospital said 43 bodies from the Jenin camp have been brought for burial.

U. N. relief officials said they believe other bodies are still buried in the rubble.

Palestinians have said Israeli troops killed as many as 500 people during their offensive into the West Bank, and other Arab states joined the Palestinians in calling for an international investigation into the Israeli action.

Israel strongly denies the claims, saying the death toll in Jenin was closer to 50. Israel has said that 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the West Bank incursions aimed at rooting out a Palestinian "terrorist infrastructure" responsible for a series of deadly attacks against civilians. (Inside Jenin)

Late Friday night the U.N. Security Council voted to investigate claims of an Israeli massacre at the Jenin camp.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan his nation would "welcome" such a probe. Israel strongly denies Palestinian allegations of a massacre of Jenin residents at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

Siri said rescuers would try to preserve evidence for the U.N. investigation.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns toured the camp Saturday and called the results of Israel's military incursion there a "terrible human tragedy."

Burns was reportedly scheduled to hold separate talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials aimed at ending the fighting which has been going on for 19 months. It was not announced when those meetings would be held.

"I just think what we are seeing here is a terrible human tragedy," Burns said, adding that the fighting has caused "enormous human suffering for thousands of civilians" and calling for free access to the camp by aid agencies.

In Gaza Saturday, an Israeli and a Palestinian were killed in a shooting incident near the Erez border crossing, Israeli security sources said. They said the Israeli was attacked by a Palestinian from Bet Hanoun who fired at him and threw grenades. Israeli forces returned fire, killing the Palestinian, the sources said.

Near Qalqilya, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near an Israeli military checkpoint Saturday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The IDF said the man, wearing a suicide belt, was told to stop as he neared the checkpoint west of Qalqilya. He detonated the explosives, killing himself. No Israeli troops were hurt, the IDF said.

White House considers change in policy

The U.N. vote for an international probe came after the Bush administration debated whether to maintain its current Mideast policy. Washington policy-makers were debating whether to keep the Tenet security plan and Mitchell political plan or incorporate them into a broader U.S.-backed peace initiative. (Full story)

Senior administration officials told CNN no decisions have been made. But the officials acknowledge the president's top advisers are reviewing options in light of the meager results of Secretary of State Colin Powell's trip to the region and a growing sense that the Tenet and Mitchell plans have failed to move either side toward compromise. (More on Powell's trip)

The Tenet plan is a mutual security agreement drafted by CIA Director George Tenet. The Mitchell Plan is a set of procedures for both sides to follow in pursuit of a final political settlement of nettlesome issues such as boundaries of a Palestinian state, the right of refugees to return and the status of Jerusalem.

Neither the Tenet plan nor the Mitchell plan has ever been implemented. Israel has said Palestinians never complied with Tenet's required cessation of violence and incitement, while the Palestinians have said Israel never committed to Mitchell's required confidence-building measures, especially a freeze in construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.