Palestinians expected Israel to hand control today over the first of five occupied West Bank cities.
 
The announcement was made on Sunday after the resumption of stalled security talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sought an Israeli withdrawal from the cities it reoccupied during a 4 and a half years' uprising, saying he needed to re-gain control over them to meet US and Israeli demands to rein in gunmen.

Israeli Prime Minister promised to transfer control over five cities on the eve of a groundbreaking summit in Egypt last month, but froze talks after five Israelis were killed in a February 28 bombing in Tel Aviv.

Top commanders from both sides met to discuss the delayed Israeli pullout on Sunday. Later a senior Palestinian security official said: "We will assume our security responsibilities in (the West Bank town of) Tulkarm on Tuesday."

Israeli officials confirmed the issue was discussed at a meeting held "in a good atmosphere."

But a defence ministry official said that no date for a handover had been set. The cities to be handed over had been under Palestinian rule following a 1993 interim peace accord, but were re-occupied by Israel during an uprising that erupted when peace talks failed in September 2000.

Israeli and Palestinian officials resumed talks in recent days as security co-operation improved and five suspects were arrested over the Tel Aviv bombing, claimed by Damascus-based Islamic Jihad militants.

Israeli security sources said Palestinians had also informed them about a militant plan to manufacture crude Qassam rockets in the West Bank and a car bomb in the town of Jenin.

In another sign of improved communication, Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz will meet Abbas in the coming days "with the aim of rescuing a deadlocked peace process," a ministry official said. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, said the meeting would address "transferring security authority in the cities and improving security co-ordination which has been going pretty well in the past few days." After four years of deadlock under Yasser Arafat, who Israel shunned and accused of fomenting violence, peace prospects have improved with Abbas's election to succeed Arafat in January.

Sharon again urged Abbas on Sunday to disarm militants, telling visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki that Abbas's refusal to confront gunmen could strengthen militant groups and thwart peace efforts. Abbas has vowed to fight armed chaos in the Palestinian territories but has sought to do so through dialogue, concerned that force could lead to civil strife.

Sharon told Mulki the peace plan should be implemented "without any shortcuts" and said Israel would not deal with permanent settlement talks until Abbas disarmed militants, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

In an interview with Time magazine, Abbas again urged quicker progress on a US-backed roadmap for a Palestinian state.

He suggested holding "back channel" talks on final status issues.

(China Daily March 8, 2005)