Israel will transfer security control over several West Bank towns to the Palestinians in coming days, Israel's defense minister said yesterday, hours after he met with a Palestinian negotiator to work out the details of Israel's troop redeployment.
A senior Palestinian security official said the first four towns -- Ramallah, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Jericho -- would be handed over on Wednesday.
The planned handover is the latest sign of rapid changes on the ground. It is accompanied by a rebuilding of trust after more than four years of fighting and a flurry of diplomatic meetings.
Israel has informed Palestinian officials that it is ready to withdraw "within a very short period of time" from all West Bank population centers and to return to positions it held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, said Hassan Abu Libdeh, a senior Palestinian official.
Such a withdrawal is part of the long-stalled US-backed "road map" peace plan, which both sides now say they are ready to implement.
Abu Libdeh said the pullback would include the removal of some of the roadblocks that now ring Palestinian towns and severely disrupt daily life in the West Bank.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, said Feb. 8 is emerging as a target date for a summit between Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a crucial stop toward ending hostilities and resuming peace talks.
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is to arrive in the region two days earlier, for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Abu Libdeh said the summit would be prepared in detail, and that a decisive meeting of Abbas and Sharon aides would be held later this week.
"We want a very successful summit that will end with results," he said.
Palestinian officials said they expect a wide-ranging agenda that will include the declaration of a formal truce, a large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners and the resumption of peace negotiations. Israel, however, appears reluctant to move from security concerns into political matters.
The renewed peace hopes came after a sharp drop in violence. Abbas has obtained a promise from armed groups to halt attacks on Israel, and has deployed Palestinian police across the Gaza Strip.
In response, Israel's army chief said he would halt military operations in Gaza and scale them back in the West Bank.
Yesterday, a 65-year-old Palestinian civilian was killed by Israeli army fire along the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian officials said. The military said the man was deep inside a no-go zone, close to an Israeli army post along a patrol road near the border, when troops shot him.
Late Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met for nearly five hours with Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Dahlan, a former Palestinian security chief, at a Tel Aviv to discuss a West Bank redeployment.
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