AL QUDS, Oct 27: Israel said on Saturday it was postponing indefinitely a scheduled withdrawal of its troops from Bethlehem and a neighbouring Palestinian town because of continuing violence.

“The pull-back has been suspended as a result of continuous Palestinian fire, repeated shooting throughout (the) day and lack of implementation of the agreement reached with Palestinian security forces in Beit Jala and Bethlehem,” a senior official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office told Reuters.

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

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters the postponement showed Sharon’s wanted to “pursue the path of destruction and violence and not the path of negotiations and peace”.

“It is unfortunate once again that the Israeli government reneges on an agreement brokered by the Americans, the Europeans, the U.N. and Russia. It’s very clear that it’s now up to the U.S. and the Europeans to stop him,” he said of Sharon.

PALESTINIAN KILLED: Israeli troops killed a Palestinian activist from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction during a tank incursion into the heart of the West Bank city of Tulkarm, hospital officials said.

Palestinian hospital sources and witnesses said that Firas Jaber, 24, was killed after three Israeli tanks drove about a kilometre into Tulkarm, prompting a fierce gunbattle with local fighters. Witnesses said tanks fired shells and heavy machineguns.

The Israeli army said it was checking the report.

The fighting came shortly before Israel announced that it had called off an expected withdrawal of its forces from Bethlehem and nearby Palestinian town of Beit Jala.

The pullbacks were to have been the first phase of a withdrawal from Palestinian-ruled areas that Israel reoccupied last week following the assassination by Palestinans of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.

More than 40 Palestinians, and an Israeli, have been killed since Zeevi’s death, which was carried out to avenge the Israeli assassination of the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in August.

BETHLEHEM BEARS BRUNT: Israeli soldiers occupied a Palestinian building in Bethlehem and held seven Palestinians inside it on Saturday as they fired rockets and machineguns out the windows in a battle with Palestinian gunmen.

The Israeli soldiers fought the gunmen, who were using tripod-mounted machineguns in the streets below, in what Palestinians described as a hostage situation which ended when the soldiers were evacuated by tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

The army confirmed the soldiers had detained the Palestinians after occupying a six-storey building which gave them a vantage point over the Palestinian-ruled West Bank town and into Beit Jala, another flashpoint.

At least 10 soldiers were pinned down behind sandbagged windows on a top floor room of the building by the heavy machinegun fire outside.

Three Palestinians held inside the building told Reuters in separate remarks that the soldiers had put guns to their heads, told them to keep silent, and kept them in a group on a lower floor. The soldiers took their phones and identity cards, they said.

“They put weapons to our heads,” said Ihsan Husan, whose factory office is on the third floor. “They didn’t let us say a word. There was shouting and the sounds of fighting outside.” Two others who also gave their names corroborated his remarks.

The Palestinians were freed after more than three hours, when tanks and APCs rumbled up to the building and evacuated the soldiers, who hurriedly threw equipment and ammunition inside and hurled barbed wire rolls on top of one vehicle.

Since the Palestinian uprising erupted last September, the Israeli army has often occupied Palestinian homes and buildings as observation posts.

HUMAN SHIELDS: European Union officials on Friday were shown houses in the Bethlehem area which the army has taken over and where it forces Palestinian families to stay inside as shields against Palestinian fire.

One of the homes was in Aida, where the army says Palestinians fire on Gilo, a Jewish settlement which Israel regards as a Al Quds neighbourhood.

After the soldiers were evacuated from the Bethlehem building, they left the litter of battle.

Spent 40-mm casings and bullet cartridges littered the floor. Olive-green sandbags spilled their contents from the stacks piled along the windows.

Residents said the army took over the building on Saturday.

Around midday, many stood nervously on street corners, looking up at the building and speaking of hostages. Palestinian gunmen, some wearing black and with their faces covered with masks, took up positions around the building.

“There are Jews in that building shooting into the street!” shouted one woman, out of breath and carrying bags of shopping, as she passed by the gunmen.

The gunmen scurried down alleys and blasted away at upper floors. “Civilians get back!” shouted one of them. The rumble and belch of tanks approached and suddenly four explosions from rockets blasted the street.

The Israeli army said later its troops used “light weaponry” after they came under fire from Palestinian gunmen.

Bethlehem has been the scene of some of the worst battles since Israel occupied Palestinian areas more than a week ago.—Reuters