THE MIDDLE EAST: Israel will hand control of two West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority today after a flurry of negotiations and American pressure on both sides to prevent the collapse of a six-week ceasefire.
Mr Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, has also agreed to allow Mr Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian president, to leave his compound in Ramallah for the first time in more than a year to visit the grave of his sister who was buried in Gaza last week. Mr Arafat is seeking international guarantees for his safe return.
The PA will take control of Jericho and Qalqilya after several days of arm-twisting by President Bush's special envoy, Mr John Wolf, to avoid a further escalation of violence following the Israel's killing of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists and the first suicide bombings since the ceasefire at the end of June.
The Palestinian security minister, Mr Mohammed Dahlan, had said the PA was not prepared to accept responsibility for security in Qalqilia until the Israelis tore down a nine-metre concrete wall around the city.
American pressure on Mr Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, and Mr Dahlan led to a compromise in which the PA will take Qalqilya and Jericho now and get what they really want, Ramallah, the Palestinian capital, and Tulkarm in a fortnight.
A withdrawal from Ramallah would lift the siege on Mr Arafat's compound and leave Hebron, Nablus and Jenin as the major cities occupied by Israel 18 months after its tanks surged back into the West Bank.
The Israelis have also backed away from a demand that Mr Dahlan lock up about 400 Palestinian men wanted for killing Israelis, as part of a crackdown to disable "terrorist organisations". Again under US pressure, they have agreed to accept a Palestinian compromise in which the men are confined to a town under PA control and monitored to ensure they are not involved in violence.
Mr Dahlan intends to recruit the men into the Palestinian security forces or find some other means of paying them. Israel, in a move that effectively grants the wanted men amnesty, will guarantee not to arrest or harm them.
A senior Israeli foreign ministry official said the government agreed to the move because it wanted to keep the ceasefire alive. "It's a bold and calculated risk on our part to try and give a lifeline to the so-called ceasefire and pass the ball to the Palestinians, even though scepticism is the prevailing mood at the moment," Mr Jonathon Peled said.
The pullout was criticised by some members of Mr Sharon's cabinet. Mr Uzi Landau, from Mr Sharon's Likud party, accused the prime minister of encouraging terrorism.
Mr Wolf stepped up pressure after the killing of two Israelis in two suicide bombings last week. One killing was by a renegade faction of Mr Arafat's Fatah, the other by Hamas.
While the Israeli army is withdrawing from some cities, it has staked out new positions in Hebron by setting up two military posts in Palestinian areas. - (Guardian service)