OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, March 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday, March 24, that there is no way Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will leave the territories to meet with the U.S. vice president or attend the Arab League summit in Beirut if the violence continues.

Sharon was quoted by Israel public radio after the weekly cabinet meeting as saying that the Palestinian leader will not be allowed to leave the Palestinian territories as long as militants carried out what he called "terrorism."

The Israeli premier also said that, in his opinion, Arafat would also not be meeting with Dick Cheney in Egypt because he had supposedly not met any of the U.S. vice president's demands.

Meanwhile, IslamOnline's correspondent in Palestine reported that Ahmed Abdurrahman, the Secretary General of the Palestinian Authority said that Palestine would retract its recognition of the state of Israel if Arafat is not allowed to go to the Arab Summit.

The Palestinian President had been expected to meet with Cheney in Cairo on Monday, March 25, if he manages to impose a ceasefire on Palestinian resistance groups.

During the cabinet meeting, Minister of Trade and Industry Dalia Yitzik urged the government to look at the possibility of unilaterally separating from the Palestinian territories, the radio said.

Sharon said he was not against the idea, but said there were issues that are more urgent at hand, such as the situation on the northern border with Lebanon.

The Israelis are expected to take a decision Sunday on whether they will allow Arafat to travel to Cairo and the Arab summit in Beirut due to start on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces on Sunday, March 24, shot dead four resistance activists near the border with Jordan, on the southern edge of the Golan Heights, Israeli security sources told AFP.

Security sources said the incident occurred near Ein Sarid, close to the Tel Katsir kibbutz, but it was not immediately clear where the four men were from.

Military sources confirmed that a group of four men had crossed the border from Jordan, and had been shot dead by Israeli troops close to the Sea of Galilee.

The army had earlier said that three militants had definitely crossed into Israel and been shot dead. They added there was possibly a fourth member of the group.

The Israeli army had been on high alert in the northern Jordan valley area and was scouring villages after reports the Jordanian army had shot dead two men in a group trying to cross the border.