HIGHLIGHTS: Occupation Troops Under Fire in Jenin & Yabed||EU Keeps Hizbollah off So-called 'Terror List'||U.S. Democrats' Leader Supports Replacement of Arafat||34th Zionist Congress Opens Monday in Jerusalem with Pledge of Solidarity with Israel & Concludes in Two Weeks Time with the Inauguration of New Settlement|| STORY: An Israeli armored column rolled through the West Bank town of Jenin after dark on Sunday, exchanging fire with local Resistance men before leaving.

An Israeli occupation army spokeswoman said troops were on a routine patrol in Jenin when two roadside bombs were detonated under them and they came under fire.

Neither side reported casualties.

The army spokeswoman also said troops had entered Yabed, a Palestinian village under Israeli security control southwest of Jenin, after coming under fire from unknown Resistance men nearby.

PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE BOMBER STRIKES NEAR BORDER WITH WEST BANK

A Palestinian bomber on Monday detonated explosives near a group of Israeli border police near the Israeli Arab village of Marja, a suburb of Jerusalem close to the border with the West Bank, killing himself but not injuring anyone else.

Border police saw the bomber approaching and were suspicious of him, occupation army sources aid. As they approached him, he set off the explosives, damaging the police patrol vehicle but not injuring any officers.

EU KEEPS HIZBULLAH OFF SO-CALLED 'TERROR LIST'

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the cabinet Sunday that the European Union has decided to place the Aksa Martyrs Brigades-Fatah's Military Wing, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian on its terror blacklist, but not Lebanon's Hizbollah Resistance group. Sharon said the inclusion of, what he called, 'the two terror organizations' is "very significant," but added that, until Hizbollah is added to the list, "the job is not done."

The EU has not made a formal announcement regarding widening its blacklist, but according to Israeli diplomatic officials, the European Commission has recommended the inclusion of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the PFLP.

A formal announcement on widening the list, reported in an Israeli daily last week, is expected either Monday or Tuesday at a meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

A senior Israeli diplomatic official said that France has been opposed to including Hizbollah on the list, saying it is a political party and declaring it a terror organization could be a destabilizing factor in Lebanon.

Placing these organizations on the EU's blacklist means their assets could be frozen in Europe, and the transferring of funds to them could be made illegal.

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.

U.S. DEMOCRATS' LEADER SUPPORTS REPLACEMENT OF ARAFAT

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Sunday that the Palestinian movement should replace Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to increase the chances of bringing about peace in the Middle East.

Daschle, a Democrat, said Arab allies of the United States, although publicly supportive of Arafat, worry about the direction the Palestinian leadership is taking.

While Daschle said Arafat's departure is necessary, he said it must happen from within the Palestinian movement. "I don't think we can force it ourselves," Daschle said.

ZIONIST CONGRESS OPENS IN JERUSALEM MONDAY

Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor has described the 34th Zionist Congress which opens in Jerusalem Monday as being the most significant expression of Jewish solidarity with Israel" since violence broke out in the region in September 2000.

Some 1,200 delegates and alternates from Israel and the 33 countries in the Diaspora as well as an additional 300 activists from throughout the world are expected to attend the congress, which is the highest legislative body of the World Zionist Organization. It meets once every four years in Jerusalem.

The initial Zionist Congress convened in Basel, Switzerland in 1897.

The Congress will open with a ceremony on Mount Herzl, under the aegis of the President Moshe Katsav, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, and the heads of the Zionist Movement.

The Congress will conclude on June 20 with the laying of the cornerstone for the new communal settlement of Yitspor, in the Gilboa region, whose establishment was recently authorized by the government.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli border police jeep patrols the fence in the area of the Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin June 16, 2002. Bulldozers were clearing the way Sunday to build a security fence along Israel's porous West Bank frontier, which Palestinians said effectively canceled out peace deals with the Jewish state. (Nir Elias/Reuters)
- Jun 16 6:33 PM ET