Leftist Zapatista rebels announced Wednesday they will voluntarily withdraw seven squatter settlements from an endangered jungle nature reserve, a move that may mark the end a decade-long standoff with authorities. The rebels’ insistence on allowing farmers to move into the Montes Azules nature reserve and clear plots there had placed the leftist movement on a collision course with environmentalists trying to defend what little remained of the rain forest. While the rebels said they would not leave the reserve entirely, their decision to withdraw from the most isolated of their settlements may stem the steady invasion and deforestation of the Lacandon jungle, the largest remaining swath of rain forest in North America. Full Story