Jerusalem, July 26: Taking the peace process ahead, Israel has announced it is prepared to hand over two more West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority but maintained silence on Tel Aviv's demand for Ramallah. Accordingly, Israeli troops would be withdrawn from these two cities and security control would be transferred to Palestinian Authority, the daily Ha'aretz said in a report.
These two cities will likely be Jericho and Qalqilyah, but the Palestinians want Ramallah, where Israel has confined Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat to his headquarters, it said.
Modalities regarding the selection of the cities to be transferred and the timing of transfer will be discussed early next week in a meeting between defence minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan, the daily quoted the prime minister's office as saying.
In a bid to offer more concessions to Palestinians, Israel recently announced the removal of three key West Bank checkpoints, the reopening of West Bank roads to Palestinian traffic, the transfer of NIS 72 million in tax money held by Israel to the Palestinian Authority and the issuing of 8,500 permits for Palestinians to enter Israel to work, Ha'aretz said.
A further relaxation would also be made regarding the tough rules governing the import of produce to Israel.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas who is meeting US President George W Bush said that the Palestinians would continue talks with Israel, but there must be a halt on the construction of the fence and all settlement activity for furthering the peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Bureau Reprot