Israeli withdrawal seen for West Bank town

JERUSALEM -- Israel will hand over the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian control this week, according to a senior Palestinian commander, marking the resumption of confidence-building measures halted after a suicide bombing killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv.

Israeli and Palestinian commanders met yesterday for the first time since the Feb. 25 bombing, attributed to the Islamic Jihad, that led Israel to freeze the handover of five towns and the release of 400 more prisoners. That agreement was reached last month, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared a truce to end four years of bloodshed.

Before the bombing, the plan was to begin with Jericho, an isolated town in the Jordan River valley, but the two sides were not able to agree on how much territory would be involved. Tulkarem is near the northern section of the line between Israel and the West Bank.

The senior Palestinian participant in the talks yesterday, West Bank commander Al-Hajj Ismail Jabber, said, ''it was agreed in principle that the Israeli Army will begin Tuesday withdrawing from Tulkarem and the areas around the town, and afterward we will discuss the Israeli withdrawal from the other towns in the West Bank."

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said government approval was necessary before the pullout could begin. He said Tulkarem would be the first town to be handed over, if the Palestinians can fulfill their obligations to clamp down on violence.

Rabbis for the settlers called for a day of fasting to protest Israel's plan to remove all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. The rabbis issued an edict they said obligates all religious Zionists, calling for a dawn-to-dusk fast March 17 to ''break the horrible decree" of the pullout.

Israeli officials said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz would meet Abbas this week for the first time.

In Washington, Israel's Ambassador Daniel Ayalon told CNN that Abbas would also meet Sharon again soon and Israel would release more prisoners.

Also yesterday, Dr. Hani F. al-Mulki, Jordan's foreign minister, met Israel's leaders, the first such visit in more than four years. Jordan recently named an ambassador to Israel after leaving its embassy vacant through most of the current conflict. Mulki called for intense peace efforts in meetings with Sharon, Vice Premier Shimon Peres, and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, just before Shalom left for Washington.

US officials said Sharon would visit the White House in mid-April, after the first trip to Washington by Abbas as Palestinian leader, a reflection of renewed US involvement in Mideast peacemaking in the post-Arafat era.

Before leaving for Washington yesterday, Shalom indicated the focus of his talks in Washington would be Syria and Lebanon, not the Palestinians.

''The purpose is to act to get Syrian troops out of Lebanon, include Hezbollah on the list of terror organizations, dismantle their terror infrastructure," Shalom said. Israel has welcomed international pressure on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon after the assassination last month of Rafik Hariri, former Lebanese prime minister. Syria was widely blamed but has denied involvement.

According to a statement from Sharon's office, he told the visiting Jordanian official that Abbas has made positive moves, such as deploying Palestinian police in Gaza, but has not taken active steps against militants. ''As long as we make progress because of temporary calm, we are held hostage by the [violent] groups, which will destroy the process, as they did in 2003."

In 2003, when Abbas was prime minister, he secured a cease-fire and met Sharon, and Israel released some prisoners. But the process stopped there. Abbas lost prestige, argued with Arafat, and quit his post after four months in power -- and violence resumed with a vengeance.

''We have been saying for a long time that we want peace for future generations," Mulki said after meeting Sharon.

''Today we say we want peace for us first."