A senior Palestinian negotiator said the Palestinians might stop fulfilling their commitments under the accord if Israel's cabinet did not ratify the October 23 US-brokered land-for-security agreement in the next few days. The agreement should have come into effect at the start of last week.

A test of the Palestinians' intention could come November 21 when the 110-member Palestinian central council is to take a step toward revoking provisions in the PLO charter calling for Israel's destruction.

Arafat did not refer today to holding up implementation, but sharply criticized Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has four times in the past two weeks postponed or broken off cabinet sessions to ratify the accord.

``We expect that Netanyahu will waste a lot of time and he's not going to implement the agreement honestly andquickly at all,'' Arafat said after meeting with Britain's Duke of Kent.

Palestinian negotiator Hassan Asfour said that in response to the delays by Israel, the Palestinians are considering whether to put on hold its implementation of their commitments.'' ``The Palestinian Authority warns that it will stop implementing the Wye agreement if (Israeli) prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not start to implement the accord from his side,'' said Asfour. ``Implementation cannot be unilateral. It must be reciprocal.''

``We have begun implementation from our side in order to protect the agreement, but our commitment will not continue for long if the Israeli government does not start to implement,'' he said.

But Netanyahu, whose government includes hardline nationalists opposed to any further transfers of land to the Palestinians, has repeatedly delayed a meeting of his cabinet to ratify the accord, most recently following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Friday by Islamic militants.

Israel radio saidNetanyahu would decide later on Tuesday when to hold the cabinet debate on the agreement. If the cabinet approves the deal, Israel says it must also be ratified by the full parliament, making it unlikely the first withdrawals from West Bank can begin by November 16 as required by the accord. The agreement itself makes no mention of needed Israeli government ratification prior to implementation.

Asfour criticized the US, which brokered the agreement and is supposed to monitor its application, for failing to put more pressure on Netanyahu to implement the deal.``The US administration has so far done nothing but make positive statements to calm down the situation,'' he said, complaining that a decision by Washington to put off a visit to the region by US special envoy Dennis Ross to help with application of the agreement has only ``encouraged Netanyahu.''

Asfour also said the Palestinian side was furious over continued expansion of Israeli settlements and new land confiscations by Israel.