DEADLOCK PROMPTS WARNING FROM PALESTINIAN LEADERS.

Byline: Associated Press 

As negotiations failed again Saturday to reach agreement on an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank, Palestinian leaders warned of an ``explosion'' if a resolution doesn't come soon.

``The peace talks have hit a deadlock,'' said a Palestinian Authority statement following a late-night Cabinet meeting on the West Bank's Gaza Strip.

``All the world community must ... save this peace process because the situation will become more tense and the entire region will witness an explosion if the peace process is not saved.''

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat convened his Cabinet late Saturday following a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the stalled peace talks. Arafat refused to talk to reporters after the meeting.

U.S. mediator Dennis Ross expressed optimism following the Cairo talks.

``We've achieved a great deal of progress, but we haven't overcome all the differences,'' he said.

Ross said he did not win agreement on ``non-Hebron issues,'' essentially a timetable for pulling out Israel's soldiers from rural areas of the West Bank. A deal on this larger withdrawal is key to a long-delayed pullout from Hebron, the last West Bank city Israel occupies.

Ross' hourlong meeting with Mubarak came after Arafat met with the Egyptian president.