Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas meeting with a group of Palestinians deported from the West Bank and forced to live in Gaza in Gaza City Saturday. (AP)
IDF Brigadier General Gadi Eisenkut and his Palestinian regional counterpart, General Haj Ismail, were slated to meet Sunday night to finalize details for handing over the West Bank city of Jericho to Palestinian security control, Israel Radio reported.
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Israel agreed Saturday night to transfer control of Jericho to the Palestinian Authority, sources close to the talks between Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian officials said. The transfer may take place as early as the middle of this week.
After Jericho it is likely that the cities of Tul Karm and Qalqilyah will be next in line for a hand-over.
Israel conditioned any further transfers on evidence that the PA is successfully curtailing violence in the territories under its control.
Also Saturday evening, the radical Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas announced it was committed to the terms of the cease-fire agreed upon with the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and those announced at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit last Tuesday.
Hamas said it would avoid violating the cease-fire and targeting settlements in the Gaza Strip, as it did on Thursday. It blamed Israel for the violence and said the shooting of mortars against Gush Katif settlements came in response to an Israeli breach of the cease-fire.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli officials said Israel would allow 56 deported Palestinians to return to the West Bank.
The meeting at a Tel Aviv hotel between Mofaz and senior Abbas security aide, Mohammed Dahlan, was also attended by Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh and Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat.
This was the third such coordination meeting between the two sides and dealt with issues critical for the development of a climate of trust, such as the release of Palestinian security prisoners and the PA's plans to reclaim control of the security situation in the territories.
During the meeting Dahlan described the PA security plans, while Mofaz presented the Israeli position that calls for the banning of public carrying of weapons by unauthorized persons and the incorporation of the various security organizations under a single authority.
Mofaz also said that the PA must collect arms from the various militias and take action against the munitions workshops in the territories.
Hamas made its announcement on the cease-fire Saturday night after a meeting between Abbas and senior organization officials.
Two senior Hamas representatives, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Ismail Haniya, took part in the meeting and announced that the PA and Hamas had agreed on a mechanism of consultation in which all claims of violations of the cease-fire would be discussed.
"We have agreed on a mechanism within which if there is a violation of the cease-fire a meeting with the [Palestinian] Authority will be held to formulate an appropriate response to that violation," the Hamas representatives said.
"We are not referring to gaining the agreement of the PA for any response but on deliberations for managing the crisis in case one breaks out," they added.
Al-Zahar warned that Hamas sees itself free to take action without further deliberations in case of Israeli offensive operations in the Palestinian territories or the Gaza Strip, or if Israel initiates assassinations.
"In such circumstances our response will be similar to others in the past," he added.
The Hamas representatives stressed that the organization was committed to the calm but did not comment on their stance on a permanent cease-fire with Israel
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