Ramallah, Aug 03: The Palestinian leadership has abandoned plans to remove some 20 wanted militants from the West Bank town of Ramallah, as demanded by Israel as a condition for ending the isolation of Yasser Arafat, a top official said today. "It's been decided that they will not be transferred to Jericho or Gaza," Minister of State without portfolio Abdelfatah Hamayel told a news agency.

Instead the leadership was seeking "international guarantees" that the detainees, along with the rest of the "hundreds of wanted Palestinians" would not be targetted by Israeli attacks, he said. Bureau Report