MIDDLE EAST: Palestinians said Israel had agreed yesterday to let Palestinian security forces take control of wider areas in Gaza to solidify a de facto ceasefire and help new President Mahmoud Abbas launch peace talks with Israel.
Under the deal reached by Israel's Gaza commander and the head of Palestinian security in Gaza, Maj Gen Moussa Arafat, Palestinian troops could start to deploy in central and southern Gaza as soon as today, an official close to Maj Gen Arafat said.
"There is Israeli-Palestinian agreement to deploy Palestinian forces in the southern area, and in central Gaza," the official said, adding that both sides must meet today to co-ordinate these moves.
The Israeli army had no comment. An Israeli source said the deal still required approval from higher officials, but Israel has sought to encourage Mr Abbas's efforts to halt violence. Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Silvan Shalom said at the United Nations he was "very satisfied" with the calm of recent days.
Violence has abated throughout Israeli-occupied lands since the moderate Abbas won election as Yasser Arafat's successor and US President George Bush sent a veteran diplomat to the region this week to try to revive a "road map" peace plan.
Last week, Palestinian security police fanned out with Israeli assent in north Gaza to halt militant attacks on Jewish settlers and rocket fire into nearby Israel, ushering in a calm unknown in the last years before Arafat's death in November. Since then few rockets have been fired and in an unusual development, Palestinian police thwarted an attack by confiscating three rockets from militants on Monday.