Would-Be Suicide Bomber Arrested

Security guards overpowered and arrested a Palestinian would-be suicide bomber as he was approaching the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on Friday, police said. No injuries were reported.

"A suspicious man was seen approaching the American Embassy. In order to stop him, the security guards fired a shot or two in the air and overpowered the terrorist, holding his hands to prevent him from activating the explosive vest he was wearing until police arrived on the scene," said Shlomit Herzberg, chief spokeswoman for police in Tel Aviv.

She said he was taken to a police station for questioning and the explosive belt was being neutralized by the bomb squad.

She said that police knew of only one attacker.

At about the same time, an explosion was heard on nearby Herbert Samuel Street along the seafront. Police had no immediate information on that and said it was being investigated.

The security guards at the Embassy include both Israelis and Americans.

Police quickly corrected their initial report that the attempt occurred near the French Embassy.

Meanwhile, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Friday that Israel won't stop fighting Palestinian militants, but will take America's situation with Iraq into account in its own terror war.

The minister, Dan Naveh, from Sharon's hardline Likud Party, said Israel would take U.S. concerns into account in the period leading up to a possible U.S. strike against Iraq, but that "we can't allow a situation where because of events in Iraq, the Palestinian side will feel they have a certain immunity."

On the other hand, Naveh said, "we need to weigh decisions carefully and act wisely so as not to create a situation where a flare-up here hurts the primary American effort to hit Iraq."

Earlier, Israeli soldiers removed 17 illegal Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank this week, but both settlers and their critics said it was mostly a meaningless exercise.

The outposts were unoccupied and a settler spokesman said trouble could come next week when soldiers get around to the occupied ones.