US and Israeli officials have reached tentative agreement on key components of an Israeli plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, sources said tonight.
US President George W. Bush is expected to back the agreement as an interim step while his peace initiative remains stalled.
The US-Israeli "understandings" were hammered out last week in talks in Jerusalem between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and senior US officials, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
"There are understandings on key components," a diplomatic source said, adding that the remaining issues would be worked out just before or during Mr Bush's meeting with Mr Sharon in Washington on April 14th.
The White House has said it sees the withdrawal as a "positive" and potentially "historic" interim step to help jump-start - rather than replace - the US-backed "road map" peace plan, which has been mired by violence for months.
US and Israeli officials have been negotiating the details of the withdrawal in almost weekly high-level meetings, and are seeking cooperation from Egypt, Jordan and others.
Mr Sharon has proposed evacuating Israeli settlements in hard-to-defend enclaves in the Gaza Strip and setting up a new "security line" in the West Bank.
While welcoming a pullout from occupied land, the Palestinians have said unless Israel quits the West Bank entirely there is little hope of reviving the road map with its vision of Palestinian statehood by 2005.
They fear Israel will annex West Bank settlement blocs in drawing what he has said would be a new security line. The White House says it is still seeking a negotiated final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, and wants Mr Sharon to stick as closely as possible to the road map.