CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands - Two alleged Libyan intelligence agents pleaded innocent at the opening of their trial today for blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, claiming Palestinian terrorists were responsible.

CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands - A Scottish prosecutor asked judges to overlook gaps in the evidence and convict two Libyans of murder for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, saying "mathematical certainty is neither necessary nor achievable" in the trial.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Palestinian leaders must pre-empt terrorists and Israel must halt the humiliation of the Palestinian people if calm is to be restored in the Middle East, the State Department says.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Israeli troops withdrew early Wednesday from Ramallah, the seat of Palestinian government and commerce, as Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank in years was drawing to an end. Elsewhere, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

JERUSALEM - A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a central Jerusalem hotel during morning rush hour Wednesday, killing himself, lightly hurting two bystanders and further rattling Israelis already edgy after a wave of deadly weekend attacks by Islamic militants.

JERUSALEM (AP) - After calling for an end to Palestinian attacks, Yasser Arafat found himself under criticism Tuesday from both Palestinian militants at home and some quarters of the Arab press abroad.

JERUSALEM - In a double-edged message ahead of the arrival of a U.S. envoy, Israel on Thursday eased its stranglehold on West Bank towns, but also snatched five suspected militants in two raids into Palestinian territory.

HEBRON, West Bank (AP) - Israeli undercover troops wearing traditional Arab headdresses arrested a suspected Palestinian militant in a raid of a Hebron bakery Thursday. A Palestinian intelligence officer was killed in a gunbattle with Israeli troops in another West Bank town.

JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian militant detonated explosives at a busy intersection Monday as he was approached by police - killing himself, but causing no other injuries in the second suicide bombing in northern Israel in two days.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - CIA Director George Tenet arrived Monday to press the Palestinians to revamp their security services with the aim of stopping attacks against Israel. Meanwhile, the militant Islamic group Hamas rejected an offer to join a new Palestinian Cabinet likely to be announced in coming days.