Security sources: IDF may pull out of Gaza Strip this week

Israel may transfer security control in the northern Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority as early as this week, security sources told Haaretz on Sunday, adding that Jerusalem is awaiting a detailed PA proposal on the ways in which it would assume security responsibility.

The sources said that Israel has also agreed to consider positively a Palestinian request to quickly expand the plan to the Bethlehem region. The number of terror alerts from the Bethlehem region is not especially high, IDF sources said.

Speaking during a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs in Tel Aviv, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom confirmed Sunday that if the transfer in Gaza was successful, it would be followed by a similar transfer in parts of the West Bank.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday morning that Israel will continue to take action against "ticking bombs" and that it had American approval to carry out such operations, even in Palestinian areas.

Sharon was responding to recent reports that the Americans had asked him to stop targeted assassinations of Palestinian militants.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet that "Israel would continue to operate in those areas where the Palestinians fail to do so." He also said that there was no connection between last Tuesday's failed assassination attempt on top Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantisi and the suicide bombing in Jerusalem a day later that killed 17 people.

Sharon also told his ministers that Israel had prepared a position paper ahead of meetings with an American delegation headed by special envoy to the Middle East John Wolf, which arrived in Israel on Saturday night. Sharon said that the document makes it clear that Israel's acceptance of the U.S.-backed road map for Middle East peace includes its 14 reservations over the plan.

The delegation headed by Wolf, who met with Shin Bet security chief Avi Dichter at U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer's Herzliya home shortly after arriving in Israel, comprises officials from different branches of the U.S. administration, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Their mission, the State Department said, will be to hold urgent talks with the two sides in order to block any further bloodshed.

Director of Military Intelligence Major General Aharon Ze'evi told the cabinet Sunday that Israel now had a green light from the U.S. to take informed decisions against Hamas "without harming innocent bystanders and without causing irreparable damage."

Ze'evi added that Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) still does not have full control on the ground, but would at a later stage succeed in taking hold of the reins. He warned against expelling Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, saying that it would only return him to center stage.

The Israeli defense establishment is making preparations to withdraw from the northern Gaza Strip, Army Radio reported Sunday. Israel is also ready to hand over security control to the Palestinians following high-level security talks set for Sunday night.

The talks follow U.S. pressure to help salvage the peace plan, which has been jeopardized by a week of violence in which more than 50 people were killed.

The discussions between IDF Major General Amos Gilad, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and Mohammed Dahlan, the PA minister responsible for security affairs, were the first such talks since U.S. President George W. Bush launched the Middle East road map at the Aqaba summit almost two weeks ago.

Palestinian sources told Israel Radio that the meeting took place at the Herzliya home of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer, thus giving U.S. patronage to the meeting. Israeli sources however said that the meeting took place in a Jerusalem hotel.

Israel Radio reported that Dahlan demanded that Israel withdraw from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank town of Bethlehem, stop its targeted assassinations of wanted militants, lift the siege on Arafat and the end closures on Palestinian towns and cities.

Gilad told the Palestinians that Israel wants them to stop the terror attacks and end the incitement against Israel. He also warned that should a terror attack originate from an area where Israel had withdrawn, the army would go back in and take over the area again.

The sides agreed, say sources, to present their response to the other's demands later Sunday.

Wolf is scheduled to meet Monday with Sharon, Mofaz and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. The members of his delegation will spend their first week being briefed by security officials and touring the territories.

	Former PA Preventive Security Chief Mohammed Dahlan's camp is currently leading in internal Fatah elections in Gaza. (Archives / AP)