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Israel Pulls Out of Raided Village, Eyes Full West Bank Withdrawal
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 25 (News Agencies) - Israeli forces left the battered West Bank village of Beit Rima Thursday, as the government mulled bowing to U.S.-led pressure and quitting all Palestinian towns it re-occupied in the hunt for killers of a cabinet minister.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet top ministers to discuss a possible pullout, while what the Palestinians called a "massacre" continued on the ground.
Palestinian officials say more than 50 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's massive push into the West Bank over the past week.
No Israeli has died in the latest violence, described by the army as a "breakwater" against Palestinian attacks.
Sharon described the assault on Beit Rima and the extended invasions and sieges of the self-rule towns as a major success against "terrorist organizations," and said they had led to the capture of two of the assassins of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.
Meanwhile, international pressure was growing on Israel to halt its get-tough policy on Palestinian communities.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on a visit to Jordan that he "deplored" the events and "the suffering of innocent people."
France went even further, accusing Israel of breaking international law.
"The Palestinian population... has been facing an intolerable situation of military siege for six days, in violation of international humanitarian law," foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said.
"Israel's military operations in the West Bank must cease immediately."
The exact number of dead, missing and arrested is still unknown.
Israel said at least five people died, compared to reports by a Palestinian medic that nine bodies were collected and a claim by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine that 16 had died.
The PFLP claimed Zeevi's killing in revenge for Israel's assassination of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustapha in August.
Sharon has said he would end his much-criticized intervention when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hands over everyone linked to Zeevi's death.
Israel has until now shrugged off U.S. pressure to pull out.
Washington wants the region calm so it can keep Arab backing for its strikes on Afghanistan and the man it suspects responsible for the deaths of killed 5,000 people in New York and Washington, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
Israel has argued that if the United States can hunt down terror suspects thousands of miles away, it can do so in its own backyard.
But the Palestinian leadership described what went on in Beit Rima - sealed off from the world's media by the Israeli army - as a "massacre."
Senior Palestinian officials said resistance activists were flushed out of the village by the sudden appearance of Israeli tanks before dawn on Wednesday, only to be mown down by waiting troops and attack helicopters.
Political commentators said the raid appeared to pave the way for a withdrawal from the West Bank, allowing Sharon to claim victory, and said they expected the move to be formalized at Thursday's mini-cabinet meeting.
Sharon made a huge political gamble in snubbing a toughly worded U.S. demand Monday to get out "immediately" and stay out of the towns of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Jenin.
But the right-wing former general, also squeezed by ultra-nationalists objecting to U.S.-urged peace moves, said he would not leave until he had Zeevi's killers, blaming Arafat for refusing to act against them.
Arafat's police said they have rounded up dozens of PFLP members and outlawed its armed wing, but said it had no obligation to extradite them to Israel.
After Sharon's refusal to back down, U.S. President George W. Bush softened his line, calling Tuesday for a withdrawal "as soon as possible."
Within hours, Israel had embarked on what appears to have been the bloodiest operation in the West Bank since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September last year.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, also a former general, apparently stung by the defiance of Israel, whose military might is largely buoyed by U.S. contributions, once again called for an "immediate" withdrawal late Wednesday.
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