The Israeli government said the Palestinians had not kept their promise to submit a detailed security plan to Israel this week.

However, US State Department spokesman James Rubin told the BBC there was still time for the Palestinians to provide their plan.

James Ruben: I believe Palestinians will provide a plan

And he was confident that Mr Netanyahu would act to get the necessary approval from his cabinet in the coming days.

But senior Palestinian negotiator Hassan Asfour accused Mr Netanyahu of ''political cowardice" and said he was pandering to pressure from extremists and settlers.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet: ''A spanner in the works''

He said Palestinian negotiators had already submitted their security plan during talks in Washington and it was now up to the US and Israel to sort it out.

Mr Netanyahu was originally scheduled to convene his cabinet on Thursday to vote on the deal.

A right-wing Israeli demonstrator protests wearing a Bill Clinton mask

But a government statement said it had become clear the Palestinians were not following the set timetable.

The accord, signed by Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, promises a phased Israeli withdrawal from 13% of the West Bank in exchange for Palestinian measures overseen by the US against violent militants.

Mr Asfour said: "It seems that once again Netanyahu is going to succumb to the political blackmail by the herds of settlers and extremists.

''It shows that Netanyahu has unwillingly signed the agreement... under the threat of the US president.''

Fresh violence in West Bank

Mr Netanyahu's decision - which augurs badly for the success of the peace process - came as hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Nablus.

The latest trouble follows the killing of an elderly Palestinian man near Nablus yesterday in what appeared to be revenge for the murder of a Jewish settler near Hebron earlier.

Palestinian police say they have arrested two men who had confessed to that killing.

Israeli and Palestinian security forces remain on high alert with Hebron sealed off and a curfew in place on the 15,000 Palestinians who live there there.

Earlier more than 1000 mourners attended the settler's funeral amid demands that Mr Netanyahu, reject the latest land for peace deal with the Palestinians.

Lyse Doucet reports from Jerusalem: "These are flashpoints for tension"

The killing also sparked off noisy protests by right-wing settlers outside Mr Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem on Monday evening.

The demonstration followed a confidence vote in parliament, which the Israeli leader survived with the support of the opposition Labour party.

Opinion polls published by Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, showed that almost three in four Israelis support the accord.

'Netanyahu is not back tracking'

Mosche Vogel: Mr Netanyahu is not making excuses

The Knesset, Israel's parliament, is scheduled to debate the accord on 3 November, but cannot do so until it has been approved by Mr Netanyahu's cabinet.

His spokesman Moshe Fogel said Mr Netanyahu would convene the cabinet to endorse the agreement as soon as it received the Palestinian plan for fighting violence.