Israel agrees to hand over two West Bank cities - Army Radio

JERUSALEM - Israel has agreed to a long delayed troop withdrawal from two West Bank cities and to discuss a pullback from a third, Security sources and Army Radio said.

Israel had promised to withdraw troops from five West Bank cities in advance of a February 8 peace summit in Egypt.

Then the step was delayed for weeks over disagreement about the scope of the withdrawal.

Security sources said "an agreement was shaping up" for Israeli troops to withdraw from the West Bank town of Jericho on Wednesday, and Tulkarm early next week.

Israel would also discuss a third pullback from the town of Qalqilya next week, they said.

Army Radio said Israel and the Palestinians had concluded the deal on Jericho and Tulkarm.

But security sources said these agreements were not final.

They said that Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Youssef were still discussing the details of the withdrawals at a meeting near Tel Aviv, including how many checkpoints Israel would remove.

Palestinian officials had no immediate comment.

The pullback agreement came ahead of talks in Cairo planned for Tuesday where Abbas will seek on Tuesday to persuade Palestinian militant groups to formalise their agreement to a ceasefire with Israel.

- REUTERS