Palestinians: Security talks end in failure

An Israeli tank and an armored vehicle block a road Thursday in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- High-level talks between Palestinian and Israeli officials ended early Thursday after a contentious meeting in which Israel backed off an offer to withdraw from Bethlehem, Palestinian sources said.

Officials on both sides confirmed the meeting occurred, but only Palestinians characterized what happened. The Israelis had no comment.

Palestinian sources described the meeting's atmosphere as tense -- at times punctuated by shouting. One source described the talks as a "complete failure."

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The Israelis attending the four-hour meeting included Avi Dichter, the Shin Bet intelligence chief, and Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, the head of the Israeli army's planning branch. Among the Palestinians were West Bank intelligence chief Amin al-Hindi; Muhammad Dahlan, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat; Gaza security chief Abdul Razzak al-Majaideh; and West Bank security chief Al-Haj Ismail.

According to the Palestinian sources, the Israeli delegation said Israel would agree to withdraw from Gaza but not from Bethlehem, as Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer had offered Monday. The Israelis urged the Palestinians to arrest terror suspects and said suicide bombers continue to find their way into Israel from West Bank cities -- and as a result, Israel cannot hand over security control of Bethlehem, the sources said.

The Palestinians said they disagreed, arguing that suicide attacks are out of their control.

Ultimately, they said, they rejected this offer on the grounds that they believe the Israeli military occupation is a far worse problem in the West Bank than it is in Gaza.

The Palestinian Cabinet had preliminarily agreed to the deal proposed Monday, allowing for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and Bethlehem.

In security talks this week, Ben-Eliezer had said that Israel would be willing to withdraw from other cities it has occupied in the West Bank if Palestinians could demonstrate security control in Bethlehem.

The Israeli-Palestinian talks came as a delegation of senior Palestinians prepared to meet Thursday and Friday in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. The meeting will mark the first-high level talks between the United States and Palestinian Authority since President Bush called for new Palestinian leadership. (Full story)

Israelis re-enter northern Gaza

Palestinian children hurl stones at Israeli troops in Beit Lahiya on Thursday.

Israeli tanks and troops made a brief incursion into northern Gaza for a second day Thursday, killing an 18-year-old man and injuring several others who threw stones and fired at forces in the village of Beit Lahiya, according to Palestinian sources and the Israel Defense Forces.

Eyewitnesses reported at least 15 tanks moved into Beit Lahiya before the Israeli forces withdrew to the nearby Israeli settlement of Alei Sinai. Israel Radio reported two bulldozers were among the tanks.

During the sweep, the Israeli forces arrested nine people, most of whom are wanted in connection with militant activities, the IDF said. Palestinian sources said one of those arrested was Karam Sarandah, a Palestinian Legislative Council member, but the IDF could not confirm his arrest.

An IDF spokesman said that the operation went on for several hours.

Near the sweep's end, the spokesman said that several hundred stone throwers surrounded an Israeli tank and it opened fire to disperse the crowd. He said the Israeli forces had no intention of killing anyone.

Palestinian sources said seven people were injured during what they say was a five-hour sweep.

The Israeli forces entered the same village early Wednesday and retreated several hours later.

The IDF said it had arrested 21 Palestinians during overnight activities, most of them on Israel's wanted list. Two of those arrested in Gaza were members of the Islamic Jihad and Tanzim, the armed wing of Arafat's Fatah movement.

Late Wednesday and early Thursday, Israeli forces destroyed four Palestinian homes in the West Bank that belonged to suicide bombers and people involved in organizing anti-Israel attacks, according to the IDF.

One of the homes belonged to Mazen Fukhaa, whom Israeli forces arrested for allegedly orchestrating Sunday's suicide attack on a bus that killed nine people and wounded more than 50 in northern Israel.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition by 35 Palestinian relatives of terror suspects that they be given advance notice before Israel destroys their homes.

In addition, an Israeli soldier was wounded Wednesday night in a West Bank village near Tulkarem when a patrol came under fire, the IDF said.

-- CNN Producer Sausan Ghosheh contributed to this report.