31.   In Israel, top PLO negotiator Saeb Erakat said his group never agreed to a partial troop pullout from West Bank towns.

32.   In the West Bank, meanwhile, Jewish settlers moved into abandoned homes to protest a planned Israeli troop pullout.

33.   Israel and the Palestinians are negotiating now an agreement for an Israeli troop pullout of Arab population centers in the West Bank prior to Palestinian elections there.

34.   Israel agreed to grant more powers to Palestinians in the West Bank in five unspecified economic spheres before the troop pullout begins.

35.   Israel and the Palestinians have spent months negotiating a troop pullout from Hebron, the last West Bank city under Israeli control.

36.   Israel completed a troop pullout early Wednesday from a section of Palestinian territory seized a day before.

37.   Israel has said it would not implement the next phase -- a troop pullout from West Bank towns -- until Arafat proved he could rein in the militants.

38.   Israel had been anticipating an attack by radical Palestinians trying to derail efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on a troop pullout from the West Bank.

39.   Israel reportedly is offering the Palestinians a gradual troop pullout, and Palestinian officials said Wednesday that Arafat was ready to consider the idea.

40.   Israel and the PLO are negotiating an accord on a troop pullout from West Bank towns.