Jerusalem, Sept 26: Israeli troops today demolished three homes of Palestinian terror suspects in the West Bank, while settler leaders celebrated the establishment of what they termed a new Jewish settlement near the Palestinian City of Nablus. In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israel maintained its siege of Yasser Arafat's Headquarters for a seventh day, defying a call by the UN Security Council to end operations there and withdraw from Palestinian cities and towns. Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres said Israel would not comply with the resolution because the Palestinians are not meeting the council's demands to halt attacks on Israelis and arrest those responsible. "We cannot fulfill our part (of the resolution) because the other part will not be fulfilled," he told foreign diplomats. Peres said Israeli and Palestinian officials were slated to resume negotiations today to try to end the standoff at Arafat's compound. But Palestinian officials said a meeting was cancelled when Israel wouldn't let foreign officials meet Arafat.
A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians cannot carry out reforms in their regime as long as the siege continues. Mahmoud Abbas, mentioned as a leading candidate for Prime Minister if the Palestinians decide to appoint someone to share power with Arafat, told the associated press, "There is no way to discuss such is sues while our president is under such cruel and unprecedented aggression."

Bureau Report