Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and his security cabinet will today consider easing curfews in seven reoccupied Palestinian cities.
But overnight the Israeli army spread its net for suspects in Palestinian suicide bombings, rounding up dozens of university students in Hebron.
The news comes after Mr Sharon’s main coalition partner, the Labour Party, decided against a proposal to withdraw from government. Its leader, Defense Minister Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer is faced growing criticism from colleagues over the Israeli Palestinian policies.
But the party rejected calls for a vote of no confidence in Mr Ben-Eliezer, reinforcing his position as party leader and further reducing the chances of the coalition splitting.
Some members of the center-left party have long opposed a role in the coalition led by Mr Sharon's right-wing Likud. Divisions have grown since the current West Bank operation began.
Israeli political sources said Mr Sharon's security cabinet would discuss keeping 700,000 Palestinians under curfew only at night and allow life to resume during the day in seven West Bank cities under Israeli guns.
Nablus, Tulkarm, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Qalqilya, Jenin and Hebron were reoccupied after 31 Israelis were killed in two Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and a shooting attack in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank two weeks ago.
Round-the-clock curfews have been eased occasionally during the day for several hours to allow residents to stock up on food, with Israeli armor remaining in the cities.
Despite Mr Sharon's vow to stay in Palestinian-ruled areas as long as attacks on Israelis continue, one of his advisers, Mr Raanan Gissin, said the army planned to "reduce its presence" to ease hardships on the Palestinians and let in humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile international efforts to end the 21 months of conflict also continued. US Middle East envoy Mr William Burns met Russian, United Nations and European Union officials in London but details of the talks were not made available.