Israeli to pull back from Jericho tonight

JERICHO, West Bank - Israeli troops will pull back from the West Bank city Jericho on Wednesday, the army said, after Israeli and Palestinian officers resolved differences over the scope of the redeployment.

"A meeting between the officers has ended and it was agreed that after a joint tour by Israeli and Palestinian brigade commanders (on Wednesday) the handover of the city of Jericho will begin," a senior Israeli officer said.

The officer estimated the pullback was likely to start around 1100 GMT (midnight NZT).

Israel's first move away from West Bank cities since the January 9 election of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could bolster his efforts to persuade militants to accept the truce he declared with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last month.

Abbas opened talks with about a dozen militant factions in Cairo on Tuesday.

The Israeli officer said Jericho would be transferred to "full Palestinian security control" but Israeli forces would remain at a key intersection on a highway leading to the biblical, oasis town.

The handover had been delayed repeatedly by differences over the number of checkpoints Israel would dismantle. Officers from both sides met late on Tuesday to finalise the deal after failing to reach an agreement earlier in the day.

In what had appeared to be an obstacle to an agreement, a dispute erupted between Israel and the Palestinians on Tuesday after Abbas said he intended to free a militant jailed in Jericho over the assassination of an Israeli minister in 2001.

But Sharon's office said senior Palestinian officials had denied any intention to release Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) that claimed responsibility for the killing of Rehavam Zeevi.

Abbas also pledged to release another militant held in Jericho, Fuad al-Shobaki, an aide to the late Yasser Arafat accused of smuggling weapons.

- REUTERS