HIGHLIGHTS: Two of 3 Attackers Appear to Have Managed to Escape
PFLP Claims Responsibility.
Israeli Cabinet Discusses UN Mission.
Standoff At Bethlehem Continues.
(Read photo caption within).

STORYFour internationally illegal settlers were killed when Palestinian Resistance men attacked an internationally illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Saturday in the first such assault since Israel launched its savage four-week-old offensive against Palestinian cities and towns.

The Israeli occupation army said four people had been killed and six wounded, one of them severely, in the attack by one or two attackers on Adora.

A MASSIVE MANHUNT FOR ATTACKERS

Occupation army troops and helicopters mounted a massive manhunt for the attackers, conducting a house-to-house search in the nearby village of Taffuh. Occupation army sources said reserve soldiers spotted one of the three, fired on him and killed him.

The unidentified Palestinian was wearing an Israeli army shirt and pants. Israeli occupation forces were searching for two other attackers.

PALESTINIANS SAY SHARON RESPONSIBLE, ISRAELIS BLAME ARAFAT

Israel said it held Arafat's Palestinian Authority responsible. "The war against terror is not over," said Environment Minister Tsachi Hanegbi.

Palestinian Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman, however, blamed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's military campaign against Palestinians.

"All Palestinian people have been provoked everywhere in the Palestinian territories," Abdel Rahman said, urging an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. "This militant operation that happened today proved that the Israeli military solution is not useful and cannot prevent the Palestinian resistance."

UN MISSION ON HOLD

The attack took place as the U.N. "fact-finding" team waited in Geneva for the green light for their scheduled flight to the region Sunday.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed to a one-day delay in the team's arrival to give Israel's cabinet time to take a formal decision on the mission, which has drawn Israeli objections over its scope and composition.

The cabinet's deliberations Sunday morning were expected to be complicated by Israeli shock at Saturday's attack.

STANDOFF AT BETHLEHEM

Meanwhile, efforts continued to end the 25-day standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where more than 200 Palestinians, including about 30 wanted militants, were surrounded by Israeli forces. The focus of negotiations centered on the fate of six men inside - whether they will be escorted to the Gaza Strip, as the Palestinians propose, or be sent into exile, as Israel demands.

A Palestinian negotiator, Salah Taameri, consulted with Arafat at his besieged headquarters, then returned to Bethlehem with the Palestinian leader's instructions to try to arrange a meeting with the Israelis.

RAMALLAH CLASHES

In Ramallah, meanwhile, about 50 young Palestinians throwing stones battled Israeli soldiers surrounding Yasser Arafat's besieged headquarters.

Soldiers peppered demonstrators with tear gas, advancing on foot toward the city center trying to push them back. Several Palestinians were hit by rubber bullets, said AP photographer Brennan Linsley, whose face was bruised by one.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz (C) arrives to visit the scene where one or two Palestinian gunmen attacked the Jewish settlement of Adora, near the West Bank city of Hebron, April 27, 2002. Gunmen killed four people in the settlement in the first such attack since Israel launched a four-week-old military sweep through Palestinian-ruled cities. (Nir Elias/Reuter