Meanwhile, international pressure mounted on Israel Saturday to pull back from threats to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, with many countries warning that such a move would only heighten the Middle East conflict.

However Israel responded by lashing out at what it described as the "hypocrisy" of the international community over its threats to expel Arafat, vowing it would not give in to the criticism.

South Africa on Saturday joined countries around the world in condemning Israel's threat to expel Arafat from the West Bank.

"What is even more worrying is the content of discussions leading up to the decision to expel President Arafat," Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said in a statement.

"Advocating removing or killing the democratically elected president of a people, as suggested by Israeli Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz, is utterly unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms."

The United States, European Union and Russia all warned Israel Friday, September 12, against moving to put Arafat into a new exile.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom as well as Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, officials said.

"Our views on this matter are very well known to the Israeli government," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "We don't view that it would help matters and it would only serve to give him a broader stage."

President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was also in touch with officials in the region, as Washington scrambled to salvage its tattered "road map" to Middle East peace following two attacks this week that killed 15 Israelis, the resignation of Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas and the series of Israeli assassinations attempts against Palestinian activists.

But despite the angry condemnation from the international community, Israel said it was standing by its decision.

"When it comes to defending a ‘terrorist’ like Yasser Arafat the world mobilizes, but when women and children are killed in the streets of Israel, the U.N. Security Council is silent -- it's hypocrisy," a senior Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian prime minister-designate Ahmed Qorei threatened to call off efforts to form a new government, saying the expulsion of Arafat would make the composition of a government an "issue without substance".

Russia's Foreign Minister said expelling Arafat would be a "serious political mistake with the most negative consequences."

In Geneva, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Israel would be "unwise" to banish Arafat. "We have already seen the implications and I hope the government will not apply the decision which it has taken in principle."

The European Union said it would maintain contacts with Arafat wherever he is based.

"We believe that would be a terrible mistake that would have serious consequences across the whole region," said Diego Ojeda, a spokesman for E.U. external relations commissioner Chris Patten.

Individual European nations also spoke out. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "We have repeatedly made clear to the Israeli government that the expulsion of chairman Arafat would be wrong."

Middle East and Muslim nations also highlighted their concern.

The Arab Group of nations at the United Nations asked the U.N. Security Council to demand that Israel recant on its decision.

A draft resolution by the group, seen by the AFP, "demands that Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and to cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher urged Washington to take "effective action" to stop Israel from removing Arafat.

In a telephone conversation with Powell, Maher asked the United States to "convey its opposition to Arafat's expulsion by effective action," a government source told AFP.

Pakistan said such a move could be "condemnable." India's Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha told AFP: "We strongly disapprove."

In South America, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva noted that Brazil recognizes Arafat "as a legitimate authority and democratically elected by the Palestinian people."

Israel's threat to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is a "big mistake," Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said Saturday, but added that it will never be carried out.

"The possibility to expel Arafat will never become a fact. The Spanish government has always made it clear that president Arafat is part of the solution," she said after talks with her Syrian counterpart, Faruq al-Shara.

"We really think that this decision by the Israeli government is a big mistake," she said.

This comes as Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat was meeting U.S. special envoy John Wolf on Saturday to discuss Israel's decision to expel Arafat, Erakat's office said.

The two men, who were meeting in the West Bank city of Jericho, would also discuss the ongoing situation in the Palestinian territories, his office added.

On the ground, an elderly Palestinian was killed Saturday morning as Israeli soldiers and Palestinian resistance fighters exchanged fire in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian hospital sources said.

Fathi Bulbul was shot as he watched Israeli troops raid the Old City from the window of his room, they said.

The Israeli troops withdrew from the area a short time later.