Stalemate after West Bank offensive

The US is "deeply troubled" by events in Jenin

The US is trying to resolve standoffs in Ramallah and Bethlehem which have continued after Israel announced the end of its military offensive in the West Bank.

US envoy William Burns met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his besieged compound in Ramallah to discuss the stalemate, which is holding up a possible return to ceasefire talks to end 19 months of steadily escalating violence.

We have achieved very profound results but the struggle against terrorism continues... according to a different method

Ariel Sharon

A few hours later, bursts of machine gun fire were heard around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and smoke was seen rising from Manger Square.

The BBC's Richard Miron - reporting from Bethlehem - says it was the heaviest gunfire in recent days and that flames could be seen coming from an area near the church.

Israeli forces have confined Mr Arafat to a couple of rooms in his compound for three weeks, as well as besieging a group of 200 Palestinians - including police and armed militants - at the Church of the Nativity.

Masked Palestinians shot three men in Ramallah on Monday, whom they suspected of having helped the Israelis track down a local leader in Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, Marwan Barghouti.

Two were wounded and one died.

Elsewhere, Palestinians have been venturing out of their homes for the first time after the troops' departure to inspect the massive destruction dealt to civilian areas.

But tension is rising in Gaza - which was spared the three-week Israeli offensive - where three Palestinians were killed in two separate incidents on Monday.

Palestinians are faced with a massive cleanup

Palestinian security sources said two of the dead were gunmen guarding the Boureij refugee camp who were killed when they encountered an Israeli undercover unit infiltrating the camp.

Another Palestinian was shot dead as he tried to enter a Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel said.

Announcing the end of the first stage of Israel's Operation Protective Shield on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised "the war against terrorism will continue, but now it will employ a different method".

Correspondents said Mr Sharon was referring to a cabinet-approved plan to set up a buffer zone between Israel and the West Bank while strengthening Jewish settlements on occupied land.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged Israel to ease its chokehold in Ramallah on Mr Arafat but also demanded the Palestinians "move away from a path of violence and terrorism on to a new path".

In a series of US television interviews, Mr Powell said he was "deeply troubled" by the humanitarian situation in Jenin refugee camp, where Palestinians accuse Israel of committing a massacre during its offensive.

Mr Burns visited the camp on Saturday, describing events there as a "human tragedy for thousands of innocent Palestinian people."

Under siege

Shortly after dark on Sunday, five Palestinians escaped from the Nativity church compound in Bethlehem, where about 200 people including policemen and armed militants have sought sanctuary since Israeli troops entered the town three weeks ago.

Escapees from Bethlehem are being guarded in hospital

The men escaped by ladders placed against the walls of the fortress-like compound by the Israeli army, raising suspicions inside that the men may be Israeli collaborators.

Israel has demanded that Mr Arafat hand over suspects in the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister last October and the man accused of organising an arms shipment to the Palestinians in January.

The Palestinians say they will not begin truce talks until Israeli forces have left all Palestinian-run areas in the West Bank.

Operation Defensive Shield started on 29 March after a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks killed and wounded scores of Israelis.

Peres lashes Europeans

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres - speaking in the US to a pro-Israel lobby group - rejected European criticism of the incursions, accusing Europe of "anti-Semitism against the Jewish state".

Peres: "We Jewish people cannot forget the past of Europe"

He insisted that only three of the 50 Palestinians Israel says were killed in Jenin were non-combatants. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers died in ambushes in Jenin.

Palestinians say hundreds of bodies remain trapped under houses that were hit by rockets and bulldozed by Israeli army vehicles.

Israel has said it will co-operate with a UN fact-finding mission to determine what happened in Jenin.