31.  On another front Monday, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon launched attacks against Israeli positions near the Lebanese border.

32.  Other Israeli positions are being emptied of heavy equipment so they can be evacuated quickly.

33.  On Wednesday, under cover of an intense mortar and rocket barrage, Hezbollah guerrillas planted their flag outside the perimeter fence of an Israeli position.

34.  Saturday, Palestinian police forces showed signs that they were ready to work with the Israelis, holding back crowds and preventing them from reaching Israeli positions.

35.  Sharon was explicit in his refusal to budge from the longstanding Israeli position that European and U.N. monitors were unacceptable, largely because they were not impartial.

36.  Sharon repeated an oft-stated Israeli position.

37.  That was the Israeli position as well, essentially an attitude that this had all been heard before, to no avail.

38.  The army said the houses were abandoned, and had been the source of daily grenade and shooting attacks at Israeli positions and patrols.

39.  The Bush administration has supported the Israeli position that a Palestinian crackdown on militants must precede any resumption of substantive peace talks.

40.  The home demolition was widely seen as a reprisal for an attack on Wednesday morning on an Israeli position just east of the Gaza Strip.