Israel decided yesterday evening, in light of the continuous shooting by Palestinians in the Bethlehem and Beit Jala areas, to freeze the planned withdrawal from those West Bank towns by at least 24 hours. Intermittent shooting attacks continued on Saturday and an Israeli was lightly wounded in the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo. Israel's cabinet had stipulated Thursday that Israel would not withdraw "under fire."

"The pull-back has been suspended as a result of continuous Palestinian fire, repeated shooting throughout 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 Ha'aretz.

Security sources said that an IDF pullback from Bethlehem was still possible today, if the area remained quiet. "Everything depends on the Palestinians," the source told Agence France Presse.

Israel's mini cabinet reportedly had also insisted that Israel would only pull out of Beit Jala and Bethlehem if the Palestinians promised to arrest terrorists in those areas after Israel withdraws. The Palestinians had agreed to discuss these arrests only today - after the withdrawal was to have taken place. Israel Radio reported that the Palestinians made it clear at their Friday meeting with Israeli officials that they had no intention to carry out the arrests, a refusal subsequently confirmed by West Bank Preventative Security chief Jibril Rajoub.

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat claimed the pullout decision was unconditional and charged that the delay was a "political decision." Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Sharon, told CNN that the Palestinians had themselves committed to an unconditional cessation of violence, a promise they had not upheld.

Palestinian Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed Rabbo warned yesterday that "if the Israelis do not withdraw from the occupied Palestinian cities within the coming few days and put an end to the siege, which they have imposed for over a year, we will not have a cease-fire." He added that the Palestinians were very "sincere about having a cease-fire."

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, in a Saturday evening meeting at his Gaza headquarters with European parliamentarians, claimed that the pullback delay showed that Israel was not serious about making peace with the Palestinians: "It was supposed to take place tonight, but as you see it has not been implemented," he said. "It's a part of their policy not to achieve real peace."

Israel's decision to withdraw troops initially from Beit Jala and Bethlehem was intended to set an example of Palestinians taking responsibility for halting violence, and would pave the way for additional pullbacks from Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarm, Kalkilya and Ramallah.

"If they fail the test of Beit Jalla and Bethlehem, obviously we will have to reconsider further redeployment in other cities in the West Bank,'' government spokesman Avi Pazner said yesterday, before the pullback delay was announced. "We hope that they will succeed, because Israel has no interest in staying in those cities.''

Gilo under fire over weekend
A 66-year-old Jerusalem resident was lightly injured when hit by a stray bullet in Gilo on Saturday. The neighborhood came under intermittent shooting attacks by Palestinians over the weekend. At least three Gilo apartments were hit by the gunfire and damage was caused to the exterior walls of two apartment buildings.

In another, unrelated incident, four members of a family from Sussiya in the southern Hebron Hills were injured Saturday night when Palestinians fired on their vehicle from a roadside ambush.

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