Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razaq al-Yahya met with Ben Eliezer late Monday to hear his "Gaza First" plan, whereby Israeli forces would slowly withdraw from areas re-occupied during the 22-month-old intifada, or uprising, if the Palestinians crack down on militant groups.

"The plan was studied, but no decision was taken," one official said, stressing that the proposal "must be discussed as thoroughly as possible and there is a need for more meetings with the Israelis."

But information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo rejected the idea of Israeli withdrawals being limited to particular areas, calling instead for a comprehensive pullback.

"It's not logical and not possible that a withdrawal take place in one location while in another the killing and destruction is still going on," he told reporters.

Palestinian officials said the plan could also apply to Bethlehem in the southern West Bank if the situation there remained calm.

A police official in Bethlehem said orders had been issued to the town's police officers to take their uniforms back to their offices and be ready to resume their duties "at any time."

Palestinian leadership likewise asked for an Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters are based, but officials said the Israeli side refused.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops near Jenin gunned down early yesterday two Palestinian militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia which has claimed responsibility for numerous anti-Israeli attacks and is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

Late Monday, Israeli attack helicopters fired at least two missiles at a metal-workshop in Gaza City, wounding five people.

A 16-year-old Palestinian girl from the West Bank planning a suicide attack in Jerusalem "in the near future" was arrested Monday by Israeli security forces, a police spokesman said.

At the United Nations, the General Assembly called for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank cities.

The UN resolution followed a report funded by CARE International and the US Agency for International Development, which found one in five young Palestinian children is suffering from malnutrition.

(China Daily August 7, 2002)