Israel proposes West Bank deal

JERUSALEM - Israel has proposed a gradual withdrawal from reoccupied West Bank cities where it sees Palestinian security forces making serious attempts to prevent militant attacks.

The proposal was raised last week in the first direct meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Palestinians in nearly a year, details of which emerged at the weekend.

The United States, preparing for a possible strike on Iraq, has repeatedly appealed to Israel and the Palestinians to rein in violence before any military action it may take in the Gulf.

Sharon's Thursday meeting with the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmed Korei, coincided with his attempts to bring the centre-left Labour Party into a unity government.

Labour has said Sharon must resume talks with the Palestinians before it would consider entering his Government.

There was no immediate Palestinian reaction to the proposal, under which Israel would withdraw from West Bank cities it reoccupied last year after a spate of suicide attacks. Israel has made similar proposals in the past.

The cities are among large areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that Israel handed over to Palestinian control in the 1990s under interim peace deals.

Dov Weisglass, head of Sharon's office, outlined the proposal on Israel Radio and acknowledged that positive moves could help Sharon's coalition negotiations.

"The plan has been to encourage the Palestinians to act energetically and with determination to stop terror," he said. "It proposes that everywhere they succeed in preventing attacks or showing that they are making serious efforts to do so, Israel will react accordingly by changing its military deployment in the area and easing restrictions on trade and movement."

More meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials are scheduled for this week.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian Interior Minister Hani al-Hassan said security forces would eliminate anarchy and take control upon an Israeli troop withdrawal.

Addressing problems of lawlessness in West Bank cities, where the Palestinian Authority has been paralysed by Israeli military raids and the arrests of hundreds of its policemen, Hassan pledged to give Palestinians security.

"We in the Interior Ministry will carry out our responsibilities and impose full security in any area the Israeli Army pulls out from," said Hassan, a leading member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

Hassan also said he planned to open dialogue with all armed groups in the city to unify them under the Fatah political leadership strategy, which calls for an end to all attacks against all Israelis.

Israel demolished 13 homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Saturday in its latest operation against Palestinian militants leading the 28-month uprising for independence. Two of the homes belonged to families of militants.

Palestinians and human rights bodies denounce the Israeli demolitions as collective punishment.

Israel says the measure is necessary to deter attacks.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: The Middle East