AL QUDS, April 28: Israel on Sunday embraced a US proposal to end the siege around Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s West Bank compound but withheld approval for a

UN fact-finding team to visit the devastated Jenin refugee camp.

In Bethlehem, a fifth round of talks failed to end the 27-day-old Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity, with a new session slated for later on Sunday.

In a potential breakthrough, the Israeli cabinet voted to accept a plan advanced by US President George Bush that would put wanted militants holed up in Arafat’s Ramallah office under US or British guard in a Palestinian jail.

Colonel Mohammed Dahlan, the Gaza Strip security chief, said Palestinians were prepared to discuss the proposal but were not ready to hand over wanted militants sheltered in Arafat’s offices in Ramallah.

The Israeli cabinet voted 17-9 in favour of the scheme after Bush telephoned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the cabinet meeting to lobby for the proposal that would end the month-long blockade at Arafat’s battered compound.

Israel has kept up its siege while demanding custody of four men inside Arafat’s office who are wanted in the murder of Israel sentenced the four to jail terms last week.

The Israelis also want two other men, a militant leader and a man suspected of financing Palestinian operations against Israel.

Under the Bush plan, US or British security forces would stand guard prison within the Palestinian Authority” territories, explained Sharon spokesman Arnon Perlman.

“Israeli troops will leave Ramallah once they are in prison and guarded by the British and US troops,” he said.

US and British representatives later visited Arafat but there was no word on the substance of their discussions.—AFP