Israeli forces will withdraw from Areiha within 4 days
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 2/14/2005

News reports quoted well-informed Israeli sources as saying that the Israeli defense minister Shaoul Mofaz notified the Palestinian side that the Israeli forces will withdraw from Areiha within days.

It seemed that this commitment was made during a meeting held on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv between Mofaz and the former Palestinian security minister Muhammad Dahlan and the negotiations affairs minister Saeb Oreikat and the secretary of the Cabinet Hassan Abu Labda.

For its part, the Israeli daily Haartez said on Sunday that Israel agreed to transfer security control in Areiha, which is situated to the south of the West Bank, to the Palestinians.

The Israeli paper explained that the two other cities which will be transferred to the Palestinian supervision are Toulkarem, and Qalqilya, respectively.

The paper said that Mofaz asked during the said meeting from the Palestinians to prevent carrying weapons in public places and to unify all security forces and collect the weapons of the armed groups.

While the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas notified a delegation of expelled persons from the West Bank to Gaza and abroad of their nearby right to return, the negotiations affairs minister Saeb Oreikat said that some 56 expelled Palestinians including 39 resistance men who were besieged in the "Nativity Church" in Bethlehem in 2002 will be returning back within two weeks.

One Israeli official confirmed the return back of the evacuees saying that this process has been finalized in the course of Sharm al-Sheikh understandings. He explained he will permit the evacuees to return back but under the condition to abide by what he called peace and to be under the Palestinian authority control.

Previous Stories:
  Implications of Abbas's removal of security leaders   (2/12/2005)
  Migration to Israel is lowest in 15 years   (2/11/2005)
  Palestinian groups doubt Israel's commitment to halting military operations   (2/10/2005)

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