OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 26 August — The Israeli government yesterday ruled out any imminent pullback from Hebron, bowing to pressure from the military establishment as the army continued its sweep in the West Bank.

"The army can only pull out of this area once it has received guarantees that calm will be maintained" by the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told army radio yesterday. "It still isn’t the case in Hebron," he said, adding Palestinian groups had continued to issue threats of violence.

Palestinians slammed Israel’s decision to delay a gradual pullout from reoccupied Palestinian areas. The decision to postpone the gradual pullout was a "dangerous action", Nabil Abu Rudeina, a top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, told reporters yesterday. "The Israeli government is becoming unable to reach and implement any agreement signed with the Palestinian Authority," he said.

According to army radio, Ben-Eliezer bowed to pressure from high-ranking military officers, who had advised against any redeployment in Hebron until after the end of the Jewish holidays a month from now.

Israeli media had reported a major split between the defense minister and top brass on the issue, prompting the army to issue a rare public denial Saturday.

"All efforts to create tension (between the army and minister) are a waste of time and do not correspond with the reality," the army said in a statement.

The army carries out the government’s orders and acts in "full coordination" with the defense minister, the statement said.

Israeli troops raided the Palestinian town of Salfit in the West Bank yesterday and arrested at least 10 Palestinians in the sweep. The Salfit raid followed a gunbattle in the West Bank city of Jenin in which a Palestinian man was killed on Saturday.

Three Palestinians were wounded during the Israeli raid in Jenin. Two 12-year-old children were among the three Palestinians injured in the Israeli operation.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, the army arrested Abdel Halim Dan, a political leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, witnesses said.

Since reoccupying virtually the whole of the West Bank in June, the army has systematically swept the territory for suspected fighters and tried to deter future attacks by rounding up suspects’ relatives, demolishing their homes and threatening them with deportation to the Gaza Strip.

Under a new security plan thrashed out by Ben-Eliezer earlier this month, the Palestinians are expected to clamp down on Palestinian groups in return for a phased Israeli pullback from territories it reoccupied two months ago.

Israeli troops withdrew from the West Bank town of Bethlehem last Monday in the first phase of the redeployments, which the Palestinians had been counting on being swiftly extended to the Gaza Strip and other parts of the West Bank.

Meanwhile, 13 Palestinian factions resumed their discussions on a common position yesterday, and vowed to continue two-week-old talks on a unity document which hard-line groups have sought to amend, a senior Hamas official said.

"We will continue our talks for two days on the proposed document and the comments made by Hamas and Islamic Jihad," Ismail Haniyeh said.