HIGHLIGHTS: Tanzeim Activist, Mahmoud Naifeh Evades Arrest||EU to Expand So-called Terrorist List to Include: Hizbollah, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, and the (PFLP). ||150 Jewish Families From New York & Marseilles Respectively to Settle in The West Bank By End of June||STORY: Israeli occupation army sources said they have killed a Palestinian man claiming that he has opened fire at a convoy of Israeli settlers' cars escorted by an occupation army jeep along a road near a settlement in the Gaza Strip. (Read photo caption)

The incident came after Israel sent tanks into the West Bank town of Ramallah to encircle Arafat's already battered headquarters.

The occupation army also said two would-be Palestinian bombers, the head of Islamic Jihad in Ramallah, and 30 Palestinians affiliated with Hamas, Tanzim, and Islamic Jihad were arrested by occupation soldiers and border policemen operating inside Ramallah since early Monday morning.

Monday afternoon occupation forces also said they had discovered two cars rigged with tens of kilograms of explosives ready to be used in an attack against Israeli occupation targets. According to the Israeli report, inside the vehicles were found Israeli identity cards and Palestinian Authority documents.

Occupation soldiers also surrounded the home of Tanzim activist Mahmoud Naifeh, but according to reports he succeeded in evading arrest. Occupation soldiers also entered buildings in different parts of the city and set up strategic vantage points allowing them to monitor the situation.

EU UNDER PRESSURE TO EXPAND LIST OF SO-CALLED 'TERROR GROUPS'

Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said that the European Union, under pressure from the US, is considering expanding its list of so-called terror organizations to include Hizbollah, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

According to the sources, the signal's Jerusalem has received over the last few days from various European capitals is that the EU's inclination is to declare these groups terror organizations meaning their assets could be frozen in Europe and making the transfer of money to these groups illegal.

The European Commission is expected to make a recommendation on the matter, which will then come before the EU's foreign ministers, possibly as early as the next meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels later this week.

The EU followed the US lead late last year and published a list of foreign terrorist organizations. That list included Islamic Jihad and Izzadin Kassam, the military wing of Hamas, as well as the Basque separatist organization ETA, Irish Republican Army dissidents, and anti-Catholic groups from Northern Ireland.

Hizbollah, however, was noticeably absent, in large part because of French objections to adding it to the list due to the political role Hizbollah plays in Lebanon. Israel has been lobbying ever since to get Hizbollah, the PFLP, and the Aksa Martyrs Brigades on the list, and the topic is frequently raised in conversations between EU and Israeli officials.

ISRAEL PLANS TO SETTLE JEWS FROM ABROAD IN WEST BANK

The Israeli daily Maariv said that the World Zionist Organization (WZO) would send Jewish communities from abroad led by their local rabbis to reinforce efforts to populate West Bank settlements. The project, entitled "Rise to Israel of the Rabbi and his Community", will commence in late June when 70 to 100 families will arrive from New York, led by their rabbi Mordechai Tendler. They will move into the Kohav settlement, north of Jerusalem.

A second group of around 50 families is scheduled in Israel shortly afterwards from the southern French city of Marseille, led by their community rabbi Abraham Maimon.

Since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, immigration to Israel has declined, and so has the number of people moving into settlements in the occupied territories, which are considered illegal under international law. In 2001, some 45,000 people immigrated to Israel against 60,000 in 2000, according to WZO data. In 2001, only 2,500 people chose to live in settlements, while in the previous decade some 5,000 to 7,000 moved into them yearly.

The bulk of the immigrants still come from states of the former Soviet Union with 35,000 in 2001, some 34 percent less than in 2000. At least 40 percent of these immigrants are not considered Jewish by Israel's official rabbinate, but they nevertheless benefit from the law of return and are granted citizenship.

PHOTO CAPTION

On the outskirts of Ramallah, Israeli army armored personnel carriers pass through an army base on their way out of the closed-off West Bank city, Monday, June 10, 2002. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)