Mideast peace overture

JERUSALEM – Israel will hand over the West Bank town of Tulkarem to Palestinian control this week, a senior Palestinian commander said Sunday, marking a resumption in confidence-building measures halted after a suicide bombing killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv.

Israeli and Palestinian commanders met Sunday for the first time since the Feb. 25 bombing – attributed to Islamic Jihad – that prompted Israel to freeze the handover of five towns and the release of 400 more prisoners. That agreement was reached last month when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared a truce to end four years of bloodshed.

Tulkarem is adjacent to the northern line between Israel and the West Bank.

The senior Palestinian participant in the Sunday talks, West Bank commander Hajj Ismail Jabber, said, “it was agreed in principle that the Israeli army will begin Tuesday withdrawing from Tulkarem and the areas around the town, and afterward we will discuss the Israeli withdrawal from the other towns in the West Bank.”

A senior Israeli official said government approval was necessary before the pullout could begin. He said Tulkarem would be the first town to be handed over if the Palestinians can fulfill their obligations to clamp down on violence.

Settler rabbis called for a day of fasting to protest the government’s plan to remove all 21 settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. The rabbis issued an edict they said obligates all religious Zionists, calling for a dawn-to-dusk fast on March 17 to “break the horrible decree” of the pullout.

Also Sunday, Jordan’s foreign minister met with Israeli leaders. Jordan recently named an ambassador to Israel after leaving its embassy vacant through most of the current conflict.