Arafat meets with U.S. envoy over standoffs in Ramallah, Bethlehem

RAMALLAH, West Bank — While an Israeli army bulldozer crushed cars in the parking lot outside, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with a U.S. envoy in his besieged office yesterday to discuss the standoff there and at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

The armed standoffs have persisted for three weeks and neither appears close to a settlement. Until they are resolved, there is little hope for a cease-fire between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Gunfire exchanges were heard again yesterday at the Church of the Nativity, where an Anglican envoy said the situation was worsening steadily. The shrine is built at the traditional site of Jesus' birth.

In new violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, five Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed yesterday.

Israel's army said a unit came under fire between the northern West Bank villages of Talouza and Assira al-Shamaliya. A soldier and two Hamas militants were killed, the army said.

One of the militants was identified as Taher Nasser, 28, a leader of the Hamas military wing in the Nablus area. Israel says he was wanted for direct responsibility in attacks on Israelis, including the Dec. 12 ambush of a bus that killed 10 Israelis.

Less than a mile from Arafat's compound, masked gunmen pulled three suspected Palestinian informers for Israel out of their cars in a downtown square and shot them with automatic rifles. One man later died. The gunmen said they were from Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement.