Israel pledged on Friday to pull back from two West Bank cities and remove several main roadblocks in the area in an apparent bid to blunt the impact of a White House visit by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

A statement issued by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office listed moves Israel planned to take "to advance negotiations" with the Palestinian Authority on implementing the U.S.-backed peace plan affirmed at a Middle East summit on June 4.

They included a promise to review ways to reduce hardships for Palestinians caused by the construction of an Israeli "separation wall" in the West Bank, a barrier Israel says is necessary to stop suicide bombers reaching its cities.

At a White House news conference with Abbas, Bush welcomed the Israeli announcement, but a Palestinian cabinet minister dismissed it as a public relations ploy.

However, Bush also set the stage for a possible face-off with Sharon when they meet in Washington on Tuesday.

"I think the wall is a problem and I've discussed that with Ariel Sharon," Bush said. "It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank."

Abbas, a moderate on his first prime ministerial visit to Washington, said construction of the barrier -- a cement wall in some places and an electronic wire fence in others -- on confiscated land could make it impossible to create a "free" Palestinian state.

An official in Sharon's office declined immediate comment on the remarks.

Bush also praised Abbas profusely and repeated US opposition to Jewish settlements built on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Earlier, the Israeli prime minister's office said Israel intended to make good on a pledge to hand over more West Bank territory to Palestinian security control following a troop pullout several weeks ago from Bethlehem.

"Israel will transfer security responsibility for two additional (West Bank) cities," the statement said.

"The names of the cities ... and a date for their transfer will be decided at a meeting early next week between (Israeli) Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and (Palestinian) Security Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan."

Palestinian cabinet minister Hisham Abdel-Raziq, in comments to Voice of Palestine radio, dismissed the Israeli announcement of confidence-building steps.

"If Israel continues to pursue this misleading policy through the mass media, there will be no progress," Abdel-Raqiq, who holds the prisoner affairs portfolio, was quoted as saying.

Israel to Release More Prisoners

Israel's statement affirmed its plan to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in what it sees as a step to boost Abbas's popularity among Palestinians and support for the peace plan, which envisages creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

But there apparently will be no release before Sharon returns from his own talks with Bush in Washington, and the figure failed to meet Palestinian demands for freedom for all 6,000 prisoners in Israeli custody.

In comments likely to please Sharon, Bush ruled out asking Israel to free prisoners "who would then commit terrorist actions."

"We ought to look at the prisoner issue on a case by case basis," Bush said.

The Israeli steps spelled out in the statement from Sharon's office included the removal of three main army checkpoints in the West Bank that have been choking Palestinian traffic and giving 8,500 additional work permits in Israel to Palestinians.

But the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian boy and wounding of his six- and seven-year-old sisters in what the army called the accidental firing of a machinegun at a West Bank roadblock embarrassed Israel before the Bush-Abbas meeting.

(China Daily July 26, 2003)