21.  Palestinian forces have rarely attacked army checkpoints in the past, and when they did they usually fired from a distance.

22.  Palestinian forces also have rounded up several leaders of the military wing of the Islamic organization Hamas and placed its spiritual leader under house arrest.

23.  So it is reasonable for the CIA to be training Palestinian forces in more acceptable, and more effective, interrogation techniques and other aspects of intelligence gathering.

24.  The airstrikes seemed to fuel a popular determinantion that Palestinian forces had to strike back.

25.  The explanation, if true, raises difficult questions of whether Israel, and indeed Arafat himself, can trust elements within the Palestinian force.

26.  The governor of Ramallah, Mustafa Liftawi, asserted that Palestinian forces had not been involved in the killing.

27.  The Israelis described the siege as a security measure as Israeli and Palestinian forces mounted a crackdown on the radical Islamic movement Hamas.

28.  The Israelis have accused Palestinian forces of opening fire first.

29.  The Palestinian force will also contribute to security inside Israel, asserted Bilal Khaled, an elementary school teacher.

30.  The two gunmen were wearing the uniforms of Palestinian policemen, though only one of them appears to have been affiliated with the official Palestinian forces.