Israel to hold major war games in West Bank

The Israeli army said on Tuesday it is to launch a major military exercise across the occupied West Bank simulating its response to an outbreak of Palestinian violence.

"The army will undertake a current exercise on November 18 to prepare it to better face all eventualities," an army spokesman told AFP.

The manouevres will take place shortly before an expected US-sponsored international peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, but according to Israel's Haaretz newspaper the exercises had been planned back in July.

"The exercise is not an official preparation in case talks at Annapolis fail, though senior IDF (army) officers have been predicting for weeks that the conference has little chance of succeeding," Haaretz said.