Israeli forces pulling back from Jericho

JERICHO, West Bank - Israeli forces began pulling back from Jericho on yesterday, a move that may boost Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in his bid to commit militants to a ceasefire so he can talk peace with Israel.

The withdrawal, delayed for weeks by disputes over its scope, marked the launch of a planned handover of five cities in the occupied West Bank to Palestinian control agreed at a Feb. 8 summit between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"From this moment we are resuming our control over the Jericho area," Palestinian security General Ahmed Eid said seconds after shaking hands with his Israeli counterpart in a short ceremony on Jericho's outskirts.

It was the first in a series to be held over coming hours in areas around the biblical oasis town where Palestinians were establishing a security presence to replace Israeli soldiers dismantling checkpoints.

Palestinians flashed V-for-victory signs and sat down to festive picnics in Jericho as cranes loaded concrete blocks onto Israeli trucks at the city's main entrance and the two sides' officers met to wrap up the staggered transfer.

Israeli officers said earlier Jericho would be given to "full Palestinian security control" but soldiers would remain near an intersection on the nearby Jordan Valley highway.

Sharon pledged to move troops away in phases from four other West Bank cities - Tulkarm, Ramallah, Qalqilya and Bethlehem - in exchange for Abbas's confidence-building pledge to ensure militants mounted no further attacks from those areas.

KEY CEASEFIRE TALKS IN CAIRO

Abbas, elected in January to succeed the late Yasser Arafat on a platform of ending violence and embarking on "road map" negotiations for a Palestinian state, is meeting militant groups in Cairo this week to get them to declare a formal ceasefire.

A tacit deal to observe calm wrung by Abbas from militant leaders soon after his election has been prone to violations, including a Feb. 25 suicide bombing that killed five Israelis.

Militant leaders said any formal ceasefire depended on what Israel had to offer.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have demanded a timetable for an Israeli troop withdrawal and prisoner release as part of a package including a suspension of attacks on Israel, possibly for three months.

Abbas told the opening session of the meeting on Tuesday that the summit agreement on what he called "calm" with Israel had already produced benefits, but he said the Jewish state had to fulfil its part of the deal.

The Jericho handover had been delayed several times by differences over the number of checkpoints Israel would dismantle on roads leading to the city, once a popular spot for Israelis who flocked to its casino.

The desert city, whose region has a Palestinian population of around 40,000, has been largely calm throughout most of a Palestinian revolt that erupted in 2000.

Palestinians want the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as Arab East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state under a U.S.-devised peace "road map."

Sharon has announced plans to evacuate Israeli settlers and soldiers from Gaza later this year. But he has vowed to keep larger settlements in the West Bank and all of Jerusalem and is building a barrier around them.

- REUTERS