It is likely to be the most serious test of the joint security arrangements underpinning the Israeli-Palestinian accord on self-rule.

The withdrawal was to have been the second in a series of three Israeli pullbacks under the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian self-rule accord.

Such scenes were supposed to have been banished forever by the Israeli-Palestinian accords.

Under the Israeli-Palestinian interim self-rule accords, the authority cannot operate in Jerusalem.

The Israeli-Palestinian accords leave the status of Jerusalem and other core issues to negotiations on a permanent peace settlement.

"I don't feel this peace," she said of the Israeli-Palestinian accord signed five years ago.

A leaflet distributed by the group condemned the Israeli-Palestinian accord as the "peace of the dead."

After the Israeli-Palestinian accord was signed, foreign donors pledged $2.5 billion in aid for five years.

Officials coordinating the aid effort here warned that the Israeli-Palestinian accord could unravel if it loses financial support.

The Government also argued that the development was not in violation of any Israeli-Palestinian accords.