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Israel's Parliament debating Gaza pullout

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened a two-day parliamentary debate on Monday with a vow to see through his controversial plan to unilaterally remove all 21 Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon's speech was greeted with noise and catcalls from within the hall and outside it, where several thousand demonstrators had gathered, and three members of Parliament, including his former housing minister, were expelled from the hall for heckling him.

As the debate began, violence flared in Gaza, with Israeli troops killing 16 Palestinians and wounding 98 others in a raid on the Khan Younis refugee camp, which began Sunday night, to halt Palestinian mortar fire at nearby settlements. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded.

ARAFAT'S HEALTH: Israel gave Yasser Arafat permission Monday to briefly leave his compound to receive medical treatment in the West Bank city of Ramallah, heightening concerns the Palestinian leader is seriously ill.

Palestinian officials said Arafat was recovering from a lengthy bout of the flu and would not accept Israel's offer.

The decision by Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz would allow Arafat to leave his compound in Ramallah for the first time in 21/2 years.

CAIRO - A disgruntled Palestinian who worked as a driver and was bent on killing as many Israeli tourists as possible organized the bombings of three resort areas along the eastern Sinai coast that left 34 people dead this month, Egypt said Monday.

The Interior Ministry announced that of the nine men involved in the Oct. 7 attack, two of them, including the ringleader, died unintentionally in one attack, the huge explosion at the Taba Hilton. It said two bombers remain at large and five suspects with lesser roles are under arrest.

Aside from the ringleader, identified as Eyad Said Saleh, the other men were Egyptians from Bedouin tribes, the New York Times reported, quoting an unnamed investigator in the case.

Saleh did not appear to be connected to any specific Palestinian faction or to al-Qaida, the investigator said. Since the beginning, Egyptian investigators have favored the theory that the attacks were linked to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A panel investigating allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election met Monday with representatives of interim President Hamid Karzai's opponents, who accuse him of cheating.

Election officials say they won't call the result until the investigation is complete and the small number of outstanding votes tallied. With nearly 97 percent of ballots counted, Karzai has 55.5 percent, 39 points ahead of his closest rival, former Education Minister Yunus Qanooni.

MADRID - A Syrian jailed since 2001 and thought to be a major operative for al-Qaida was identified as the prime mover behind the March 11 terror attacks in Madrid, a high-ranking intelligence official told the Spanish Parliament on Monday.

While Spanish officials have named several men as possible masterminds over the past few months, Monday's remarks about the Syrian, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, represent the clearest statement of responsibility yet made by a senior investigator.