Palestinians Government

Putting aside a rivalry that once led to daily gun battles in the dusty streets here, the militant Islamic group Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization are coming to an understanding on how the region will be run as it emerges from Israeli rule this week. Built on compromises rejected out of hand only a few months ago, the deal pulls the two strongest forces in the Gaza Strip into a political partnership.

Israel moved Monday against the Palestinian self-governing authority in the West Bank and Jerusalem even as it edged closer to signing a long-delayed agreement to extend Palestinian self-rule throughout the West Bank. In Jerusalem, police served notice on three offices that Israel says are associated with the Palestinian Authority, warning that they must cease operation in 96 hours or be shut down. Offices of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp.

A prominent Palestinian American journalist has launched a hunger strike to protest his detention without charges by the Palestinian Authority, but a move aimed at winning his release was in the works Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon goes to Russia today for talks with President Vladimir V. Putin as part of intense diplomatic efforts to end 11 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Sharon is expected to head for Moscow after meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is trying to help arrange a meeting later this week between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, in a rebuke to Yasser Arafat, decided Saturday to press Israel much harder to carry out its promised military pullback in the occupied West Bank and extend Palestinian self-government throughout the region.

Romema Schlossberg believes that divine intervention spared her son, Yoni, the night a pair of Palestinian bombers blew themselves up on a pedestrian mall in downtown Jerusalem and killed 10 young people. Fifteen-year-old Yoni was there that Saturday night two weeks ago with a large group of friends, celebrating a birthday on cafe-lined Ben Yehuda Street. But he left early, minutes before the bombers turned the packed street into a charnel house.

In the besieged Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, clowns, balloons and well-armed police greeted thousands of children and teens Sunday as they arrived for their first day of class knowing that some of their schools are now within Palestinian mortar range. Four-year-old Shirli Afriat, her eyes looking as wide as silver dollars, clasped her mother's hand tightly and peered around her kindergarten classroom. The teacher was welcoming children and giving words of assurance to apprehensive parents.

What makes a 47-year-old father of eight strap explosives to his waist and blow himself to bits outside a luxury hotel in Jewish West Jerusalem? That is the question on the minds of Daoud abu Sway's friends and family. He did not fit the mold of suicide bombers, most of whom are young, single men. He was not a religious fanatic, nor was he especially political.

One of the harshest droughts in 60 years is forcing water cutbacks to Israeli farmers, raising concerns in the Palestinian territories of painful summer shortages and prompting a political dispute between Israel and neighboring Jordan. Worse yet, the dry season--with its relentless sun and soaring temperatures--is still two months away.

A suicide bomber killed himself and two Israeli soldiers at a crowded bus stop north of Tel Aviv on Monday, bringing Israel and the Palestinians closer to conflagration as Israel quickly retaliated. Israeli tanks shelled Palestinian security outposts in the West Bank towns of Tulkarm and Jenin just hours after the bombing. No casualties were reported.