HIGHLIGHTS: Plans Being Laid out to Increase Number of Work Permits for Palestinians||Discussions Cover 'Gaza First' Security Plan||Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Route of Security Fence Along West Bank||Resistance Groups Still Locked in Talks on Unified Leadership|| Barghouti's Trial to Resume 5th September, 2002|| STORY: Israel is to release another 70 million shekels (15 million dollars) worth of frozen funds to the Palestinians early next week, said a spokesman for Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

"An additional 70 million shekels will be transferred to the Palestinians at the start of the week, probably on Monday," foreign ministry spokeswoman Yaffa Ben Ari told AFP after a meeting earlier in the day between Peres and a Palestinian delegation.

Peres and minister without portfolio Danny Naveh met with top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a range of practical issues, including the freeing up of Palestinian funds, officials said.

WORK PERMITS TO BE INCREASED

During the meeting, further measures to ease the plight of the Palestinians were discussed, and plans were laid out to increase the number of available work permits for Palestinians, particularly those crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israel at what are known as the "industrial checkpoints" of Karni and Erez, Ben Ari said.

The talks also touched on ways of increasing the freedom of movement for Palestinians, the opening up of roads and a general increase in the number of people permitted to work in specific industries, such as construction and olive-picking, inside Israel, she said.

DISCUSSIONS COVER 'GAZA FIRST' SECURITY PLAN

The two sides also discussed the Gaza First security plan proposed by Israel to the Palestinians last week which lays out terms for an Israeli withdrawal from re-occupied land in return for a crackdown on militants by the Palestinian Authority.

"Peres explained that the motive behind (the plan) was not territorialistic but functional because Gaza is where the Palestinian security forces are best able to act," Ben Ari said.

She added the two sides also discussed practical issues about where else the Palestinians could improve security, she said, without specifying what was discussed.

Another meeting has been scheduled between the two delegations and was likely to take place within the next two days, Ben Ari said.

The payment of 70 million shekels will be the second of three payments of frozen money made to the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority received a first payment last month for a similar sum of customs duties and taxes withheld from the Palestinians since the start of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising in September 2000.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates the money owed by Israel to the Palestinian Authority at more than 600 million dollars.

ISRAELI CABINET APPROVES ROUTE OF SECURITY FENCE ALONG WEST BANK

Israel's security cabinet has meanwhile approved the route of the first section of the electrical fence being erected between the West Bank and Israel.

The stretch approved will extend 107 kilometres (66 miles) along the northern West Bank, mainly next to Jenin.

The fence, which will also mostly stretch inside the West Bank, will encompass half a dozen Jewish settlements.

Defence ministry Director General Amos Yaron told Israeli public radio that work on the fence, which is aimed at preventing Palestinian bombers from infiltrating Israel, was due to "start in full in a week or two."

He said the first section would be completed "within eight or nine weeks."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer decided last week to erect the fence along the Green Line, which marks Israel's borders before it captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE GROUPS STILL LOCKED INTO TALKS ON UNITED LEADERSHIP

Meanwhile, Palestinian Resistance groups met once more to try to work out a unified stance as the intifada heads towards its third year, after Hamas and Jihad groups rejected an appeal for an immediate halt to attacks inside Israel.

A drafting committee composed of secular and religious groups reviewed amendments proposed by Hamas to a document issued by all 13 groups composing the High Committee for the National and Islamic Forces, officials said Wednesday.

The final document is to pave the way for the formation of a unified national leadership that will tackle various subjects, such as legitimate ways to resist the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, upcoming Palestinian elections and institutional reforms.

"A follow-up committee will meet Thursday to discuss Hamas' answer and is awaiting the answer of the Islamic Jihad," to the document, said Palestinian lawmaker Ziad Abu Amer, who sits on the drafting committee.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement agreed to a call from the inter-factional committee for an end to Palestinian attacks inside Israel, although Islamic groups said it was not mentioned in the document.

Fatah officials said that all factions of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which is also headed by Arafat, had endorsed the document.

BARGHOUTI'S TRIAL TO RESUME 5TH SEPTEMBER, 2002

Marwan Barghouti, the first senior Palestinian brought before an Israeli civilian court, launched a spirited self-defense immediately upon entering the Tel Aviv District Court in what's expected to be a lengthy trial that will also focus on the larger political dramas of the Mideast conflict.
Israel believes it has strong evidence showing that Barghouti and other top Palestinian figures, including Yasser Arafat, are directly responsible for the ongoing attacks against Israeli civilians.
Barghouti, meanwhile, refused to recognize the court, and said Israel's 35-year military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip was the main source of tensions.
Barghouti was twice brought into the court.
He was ushered into the court for a third time just before the proceedings started.
Trial is to resume 5th September, 2002.


PHOTO CAPTION

Marwan Barghouti, center, the West Bank chief of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement raises his handcuffed hands in the air on the opening day of his trial at Tel Aviv's District Court, Wednesday Aug. 14, 2002. From left are his lawyer Jawad Boulos and two police officers. Barghouti, one of the most visible leaders of the Palestinian uprising, is charged by the Israeli authorities with murder, attempted murder and involvment with terrorists organizations. Israel says he was the key figure in organizing attacks by members of a Fatah-affiliated militia. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)