The Israeli cabinet has delayed a decision on how much land in the West Bank it is prepared to hand over to the Palestinians.

It will return to the issue after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns from Washington, where he will meet President Clinton on Tuesday.

The cabinet would then decide on the maximum amount of land it could give up without harming Israel's national interests.

The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who will meet President Clinton on Thursday, has called on the United States to put pressure on Israel.

Stalemate

Both the Israeli's and the Palestinians have accused each other of violating agreements.

The trip by Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat to Washington is an attempt to revive the peace process. The two middle east leaders do not plan to meet.

The Palestinians insist that Israel should abide by its US-backed agreement to pull out of the West Bank in agreed stages.

Netanyahu: peace "within reach"

Under these interim peace accords Israel is required to carry out three troop pullbacks from the West Bank by mid-1998, retaining control over only Jewish settlements and specified military areas.

But the first withdrawal from rural areas was rejected by the Palestinians as insufficient. They want Israel to pull troops back from 30% of the West Bank.

The Israeli cabinet has toughened its stance and said it will not consider withdrawing from more than 10% of the area.

Preconditions

These agreed phases of military withdrawal from the West Bank are likely to be the main points of discussion in Washington.

Israel has issued a list of 40 preconditions its says that the Palestinian authority must complete before it can withdraw.

The Palestinian leadership blames Israel for the deadlock.

Mr Netanyahu has said he is going to Washington with the belief that peace is "absolutely necessary and within reach if there is an equal attitude on the Palestinian side" to act against "terrorism".

On Friday Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Moshe Katzav, said it was up to Mr Arafat to step up the fight against terrorism in order to make progress on the road to permanent peace.

"We are very serious in our intention to reach real peace and permanent peace with the Palestinians ... If Yasser Arafat expresses more seriously more determination to fight against terrorism, for us it will be much easier to withdraw and redeploy more and more," he said.

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