Saeb Erikat, one of the best-known world faces of the Palestinian Authority, has won re-election to parliament in his home town of Jericho, beating back a challenge from a Hamas candidate.

A planned Israeli pullback from the occupied West Bank towns of Jericho and Qalqilya early this week was postponed late on Sunday after a meeting between Palestinian and Israeli officials ended in failure.

Fifteen Palestinians jailed by their own leadership are on hunger strike in protest, while the main armed groups denounced a proposed Israeli troop withdrawal as a farce.