Israeli occupation forces have been ordered to carry out a limited pullback in the West Bank city of Hebron later this week, Israeli security sources said Monday, in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of a U.S. peace mission. But violence flared in the Gaza Strip , where the Israeli occupation army said it killed two armed Palestinians in a gun battle near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.

U.S. envoy William Burns, on a Middle East tour that will bring him to Israel in mid-week, was expected to ask both sides to take steps to instill calm while Washington seeks to shore up Arab support for a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's room to maneuver appeared limited, however, as ministers threatened to quit his coalition over the dismantling of a rogue Jewish settlers' outpost in the West Bank.

The threats were widely seen as posturing but also reflected growing strains between left and right in Sharon's broad-based government that have stayed largely under wraps during Israel's fight against a two-year-old Palestinian uprising.

In Hebron, divided into Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled areas under a 1997 interim deal, Israeli occupation troops have been ordered to redeploy this week but will remain in two Palestinian neighborhoods that overlook settler enclaves, Israeli security sources said.

Control over areas evacuated would be transferred to the city's Palestinian commander, Abed al-Fatah Jadi, who said he would meet his Israeli counterparts Wednesday.

Israeli security sources predicted the partial pullback would be completed by Thursday, coinciding with Burns' planned meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Palestinians have demanded Israel pull all of its occupation forces out of Hebron and other major West Bank cities and towns reoccupied in June after a series of Palestinian resistance bombings.

But Sharon has vowed to hold on to the territory until Palestinian security occupation forces rein in resistance men behind attacks. Israeli security sources said the situation in Hebron had calmed to the extent that a partial withdrawal was possible.

STRIFE OVER SETTLEMENTS

The Hebron pullback plan was likely to further anger settler supporters and right-wing ministers in Sharon's coalition who have said the Palestinians should prove they are taking steps to prevent attacks before any pullout takes place.

Religious coalition partners were already furious over the dismantling of the rogue Havat Gilad outpost, which they said desecrated the Jewish Sabbath when ritual law allows work only to save lives.

Television footage showing young Jewish settlers fighting with occupation soldiers who forcibly dragged them off the Havat Gilad hilltop further fanned emotions.

Members of the center-left Labor party, however, defended Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and said the settlers were trying unilaterally to redefine Israeli law.

"The entire Israeli society must join forces to fight this Jewish Hamas," said Avraham Burg, a Labor lawmaker and parliament speaker, referring to the Islamic Hamas movement, the main group behind resistance bombings against Israelis.

Setting the stage for further conflict, a leading settler rabbi issued a ruling forbidding religious occupation soldiers from participating in the evacuation of any settlement, the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said.

UNAUTHORISED OUTPOSTS

Meanwhile, the settlers on Havat Gilad put up a makeshift tin shed late Sunday, after occupation soldiers completed dismantling temporary structures and hauling away mobile homes.

Ben-Eliezer has pledged to remove 20 unauthorized outposts.

Political sources said Sharon approved the Havat Gilad evacuation and the Hebron pullback to help Ben-Eliezer, head of the Labor Party, defeat dovish challengers in a leadership election next month and keep his coalition intact.

Israeli governments have planted 145 settlements on land captured from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war. The international community regards settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation army said occupation troops foiled an attack on the Kfar Darom settlement when they exchanged fire with a group of armed Palestinians, killing two.

Palestinian security sources said Israel informed them of the deaths and ambulance workers had been dispatched to the area to find the bodies.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (C) arrives for a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, October 20, 2002. Ben-Eliezer said he was considering quitting the country's coalition government on Sunday, after he came under fire for evacuating Jewish settlers from a West Bank outpost. (Pool/Reuters)