RAMALLAH, PALESTINE

Despite Israel bowing to pressure to withdraw its tanks from Ramallah, following US envoy Anthony Zinni's visit, the army is still occupying the outskirts of the west bank cities of Bethlehem as well as Nablus Jenine and Hebron.

In Ramallah residents ventured out into the streets for the first time in 3 days to view the destruction by the Israeli army who had occupied much of the town since Monday. Repairs to the damaged electricity, sewage.roads and water systems will cost tens of millions of euro.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was in talks with Zinni at his headquarters in Ramallah, only hours after Israeli tanks pulled out. He dismissed the pullout as Israeli propaganda and said he wants to see the implementation of the truce-to-talks plan, drawn up by an international committee under former US Senator George Mitchell.

Zinni has already had talks with Israeli leaders, and declared that there were ingredients for hope.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres the leading dove in the coalition government told Israeli Radio afterwards there was more than a small chance of a truce.

But the violence continued, claiming at least nine Palestinians lives on Friday, including a Palestinian woman and four children who died in a 'mysterious' explosion near a Gaza refugee camp. Palestinian security chiefs in Gaza identified the victims as Zeina Awawdeh, 43, her son Salem, eight, her daughters Dahani, 14, and Amaneh, 16 and a nephew, Tareq, 12. Two other children were also injured.


ISRAEL BUILDS CONCENTRATION CAMPS FOR THE PALESTINIANS

Meanwhile, the Israeli army is building a large concentration camp in the Gush-Etzion area along the Hebron-Bethlehem highway, south of Jerusalem.

The concentration camp has a net area of 10,000 square meters and is surrounded by a three -meter high fence made of barbed wire and other metal hurdles.

The camp is equipped with numerous torture chambers, including implements and instruments used during interrogations.

The camp, which had been used as a lock-up to incarcerate Palestinian children involved in resisting the Israeli occupation, is designed to accommodate as many as five thousand people at any time.

The Israeli and Palestinian press said on Tuesday that Palestinian children and minors at the camp were already being subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture including beating, malnutrition, sleep deprivation and psychological abuse.

This week, the Israeli army said it was planing to reopen the infamous desert concentration camp, known as "Ketziot" located in the western Negev not far from the Egyptian borders.

The Israeli army has rounded up more than 5000 Palestinians as part of its draconian onslaught against Palestinian resistance fighters struggling for independence and freedom Israeli occupation and apartheid.