Israeli Cabinet meets

The Israeli Cabinet is meeting has metagain to try to agree on a framework for a final peace accord with the Palestinians, ahead of the meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Natanyahu, and President Clinton next week.

Correspondents say that the Cabinet will try to set out the boundaries of security zones which the Israelis consider vital to their interests, before deciding how much West Bank land can be turned over to Palestinian control.

On Tuesday, the Cabinet laid down a list of conditions it said the Palestinians must fulfill before Israel makes a further pull-back of troops.

These include the extradition of more than thirty militants the Israelis say are suspected to taking part in attacks on Israeli targets.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service