Barak cancels US trip

Clashes with police continue in the Palestinian areas

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has postponed a trip to the United States because of the tense security situation in South Lebanon and the Palestinian areas.

An official statement issued after a late-night security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv gave no indication when Mr Barak would now travel to Washington.

Mr Barak's spokesman, Gadi Baltiansky, said it was unlikely the prime minister would be able to go later in the week.

The Israeli premier had been due to meet US President Bill Clinton to discuss the current deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

In Washington, White House spokesman PJ Crowley said President Clinton was concerned about the continuing violence and understood why Mr Barak felt it necessary to postpone his trip.

Clashes

In towns around the Palestinian areas, thousands of demonstrators clashed with police during a day of intense violence.

There is no indication when Mr Barak would now travel to Washington

Five Palestinians have been killed in the worst week of violence in over two years and dozens more were injured.

Over 60 people were injured in Saturday's protests, which were aimed at getting the Israeli Government to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The Israeli Defence Force has called on Palestinian leaders to stop the violence or face harsh retaliation.

About 200 Palestinians gathered on the streets of Ramallah, where they were locked in a violent stand-off with Israeli soldiers.

Stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown at the soldiers, who are responding with a steady stream of rubber bullets.

There have also been clashes in other parts of the West Bank - the heaviest in Hebron, where several hundred protesters took to the streets

Fighting between Israel and fundamentalist guerrillas in South Lebanon has also intensified as Israel prepares to withdraw its troops from the area on 7 July.

Artillery and mortars fired on Israeli outposts left some residents in Israel's northern towns without electricity on Saturday, an army spokeswoman said.

The fighting came after Israeli air force planes bombed a base near the Lebanon-Syria border.

The attack on the base of a radical pro-Syrian Palestinian group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command left four dead and five wounded among the Palestinians.

Emergency meeting

Mr Barak called a late night emergency meeting of his security cabinet to discuss the security situation.

Dozens of people have been injured in the clashes

Diplomatic sources are quoted as saying the cabinet met for nearly three hours, but did not arrive at any decisions.

The cabinet is under pressure. Not only is there domestic pressure from Israelis who live on the northern border to call off the withdrawal from Lebanon but there is also pressure from within Mr Barak's own government to stop making concessions to the Palestinians.

One of Mr Barak's coalition partners, the National Religious Party, may soon ratify its decision to withdraw from the government because of plans to hand over villages near Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

Mr Barak has pledged he will go ahead with his programme for making peace regardless though it is now clear that he will be doing it with less public support.

BBC Jerusalem correspondent Hilary Andersson says the current clashes have soured the atmosphere in the peace talks and reduced the chances of any concessions being made.