United Nations, June 28: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has welcomed an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for Israeli forces to withdraw first from positions in the Gaza Strip and then in Bethlehem, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said. "He looks forward to continued implementation of the roadmap, leading to a permanent settlement of the conflict based on Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) 338 (1973) and 1397 (2002)," Eckhard said in a statement yesterday.
"The Secretary General commends the vital role played by the United States in facilitating this critically important agreement," he added.
According to a senior Palestinian official, Israel agreed earlier yesterday to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem as part of effort to implement the roadmap, a three-stage peace plan that should result in the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.
A leading Israeli official was quoted by public television as saying anonymously that the withdrawal of troops would take place next Monday or Tuesday. Bureau Report