Palestinians prepare for town’s handover

TULKAREM, West Bank – Marching in formation and jumping through flaming hoops, Palestinian forces prepared Monday to assume control in Tulkarem, the first of five West Bank towns to be handed over by Israel as part of a truce to end four years of bloodshed.

The handover, which could take place as soon as today, is an important test for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. A strong performance by Palestinian police could lead to further progress. But failure to rein in militants could freeze the rapprochement.

In a setback for peace efforts, Palestinian militants wounded two Israeli border policemen, one seriously, in a shooting attack on a military post in the West Bank city of Hebron. The shooting took place near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a shrine revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hebron has been a flashpoint of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. A small community of Israeli settlers lives under heavy guard.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the shooting as an attack on Jews’ freedom of religion.

“This attack again underscores Israel’s unequivocal stand that in order to end terrorism, we must fight a determined battle against the terrorists, those who dispatch them and those who finance them,” Sharon told lawmakers from his Likud Party. “Jews will continue to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and to live there.”

Since Sharon and Abbas declared an end to violence at a Feb. 8 summit, there has been a drop in fighting. But sporadic violence has persisted.

In the most serious attack, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub Feb. 25. The assailant, dispatched by the Islamic Jihad group, came from a village near Tulkarem. That bombing prompted Israel to freeze the planned security handover in the West Bank.

Israeli and Palestinian military officials resumed negotiations late Sunday, and both sides said they expected a deal over Tulkarem in the near future.