HIGLIGHTS: Prospect-deportees Await Outcome of Last-ditch Petition to Supreme Court||Evidence against Defendants Presented to Court under Wraps for alleged Security Reasons||Hamas to Decide on Partial Palestinian Truce Shortly|| Saudi Crown-Prince Urges All Mideast Parties to Adopt a "Responsible" Position||Jordan's King Abdullah Holds MideastIraq Talks with Saudi Crown Prince in Jeddah|| STORY: Three relatives of Palestinian militants wanted by Israel face expulsion from the West Bank to Gaza on Tuesday pending a last-ditch petition to Israel's Supreme Court against an edict condemned by human rights groups.

After several days of hearings, an Israeli military court on Monday rejected an appeal by the two men and a woman against army expulsion orders. Israel hopes that punishing militants' families could deter potential bombers.

The three have until midday on Tuesday to file their final appeals with the Supreme Court or be deported to the fenced-in Gaza Strip, a Justice Ministry spokesman said.

Their lawyers said they would petition the court before the deadline, which Israel Radio put at 2 p.m. local time.

Two of the Palestinians, Kifah and Intisar Ajouri, are the brother and sister of Ali Ajouri, who is accused by Israel of sending two bombers to a foreign workers' neighborhood in Tel Aviv last month in an attack that killed five people.

Israel says the third deportee, Abed Nassar Asida, is the brother of a member of the Islamic militant Hamas group who coordinated two shooting attacks outside the internationally illegal Jewish settlement of Emmanuel this year that left at least 17 dead.

Occupation army prosecutors have said the three helped their brothers plan the attacks, but most of the state evidence was presented to the court under wraps for what authorities described as security reasons.

HAMAS TO DECIDE ON PARTIAL PALESTINIAN TRUCE SHORTLY

A top Hamas leader said his radical Islamist group would give an answer within days to a Palestinian Authority proposal to stop attacks inside Israel.

"We will give our answer within the coming days. Hamas is still studying the proposal," Ismail Haniyeh told AFP.

"There is an occupation, a siege, aggression, arrests and assassinations" by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, Haniyeh said, adding that "the resistance will continue in every way" there.

The High Committee for National and Islamic Forces, consisting of 13 Palestinian factions, met secretly last Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire proposal put foward by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he said.

The Palestinian Authority held more talks late Sunday with the various factions to decide on a united position, including a proposal for an end to attacks inside the Jewish state, but not in the occupied territories.

Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement is the only faction to have acknowledged endorsing the proposal so far, while other PLO factions are reportedly ready to accept it.

"Fatah confirmed at the last meeting that it will confine its operations to the areas of the 1967 territories," said Zacharia al-Agha, head of Fatah in the Gaza Strip and a member of the PLO executive committee.

SAUDI CROWN-PRINCE URGES ALL MIDEAST PARTIES TO ADOPT 'RESPONSIBLE' POSITION

Saudi Arabia urged all parties involved in the Middle East crisis to adopt a "responsible" position to achieve peace, and reiterated that Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands remains the root cause of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency, spa, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz "indicated that achieving peace requires a responsible stance from all parties, backed by the international community which declared its condemnation of all forms of violence and destruction.

The statement, issued following the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Prince Abdullah, also praised a recent UN General Assembly resolution which called for the "immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and a halt to all acts of violence."

JORDAN'S KING ABDADULLAH HOLDS MIDEASTIRAQ TALKS WITH SAUDI CROWN-PRINCE IN JEDDAH

Jordan's King Abdullah II visited the Red Sea city of Jeddah for talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah focused on the Palestinian territories and Iraq, an official source said.

The Jordanian monarch and Crown Prince Abdullah reviewed "the massacre (of the Palestinians), the blockade, the destruction of facilities and the incursions into Palestinian territories, as well as efforts to bring a fair settlement in the region," the official SPA news agency said.

They also examined the "situation in the Arab and Islamic world and bilateral cooperation," SPA said.

The Jordanian ambassador to Riyadh, Hani Mustafa Khalifa, told AFP King Abdullah would also review the "situation in Iraq in light of threats of strikes" by the United States.

After the meeting, Jordan's king departed the country.

PHOTO CAPTION

(Top: L) An Israeli army armored personnel carrier patrols the streets of the besieged West Bank town of Ramallah, Monday, Aug. 12, 2002. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

(Top: R) Hamas to decide on partial Palestinian truce shortly.

(Bottom: L): Saudi Crown-Prince Abdullah calls on all parties to Mideast conflict to adopt 'responsible approach.

(Bottom: R): King Abdullah II of Jordan discusses MideastIraq with crown-prince Abdullah in Jeddah, Aug 12, 2002.