JERUSALEM (AFP)-The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved a long overdue handover of more of the occupied West Bank to full Palestinian control, just two days before the resumption of U.S. sponsored peace talks.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office said the transfer of 6.1 percent of the territory would take place on Tuesday, two months behind the schedule laid down in last year's Sharm el-Sheikh interim peace accord.
The handover was held up by wrangling with the Palestinians over which areas the Israeli military would evacuate, setting off an acrimonious month-long impasse in negotiations aimed at forging a final peace deal by September.
The 6.1 percent withdrawal will take place the same day as the resumption of negotiations in Washington aimed at reaching a draft pact by May, after the two sides missed a mid-February deadline because of the land deadlock, the worst crisis in Israel-Palestinian peacemaking since Barak took office in July.
"I hope that now the Israel-Palestinian peace process is irreversible ... We are on the way to peace and no-one seriously wants to go back," said Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh. "The next goal is to achieve the agreement of a framework guidelines by May and the talks in Washington should prepare the ground for this," he added.
Sneh said Tuesday's transfer, the third outlined under Sharm, meant all major Palestinian towns in the West Bank would be under full Palestinian authority, although the southern town of Hebron – often a flashpoint for violence – remains divided.” From this week on 60 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank will live under full Palestinian authority, this is the real change," he said.
After the handover, Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority will have full control over 18.1 percent of the West Bank and administrative authority over a further 21.7 percent, where Israel will retain security control.
The transfer covers areas throughout the West Bank from Hebron to Jenin in the north. In one area, Sneh noted, a bridge connecting Hebron to the village of Khalhun to the north will be under full Palestinian control while a road underneath will remain under full Israeli control.
Asked why Israel had decided against transferring areas close to Jerusalem but outside its municipal boundaries, Sneh said: "We want to preserve the unity of Jerusalem, we do not want to divide it."
Barak had initially considered handing over the village of Anata, which borders on the Jewish settlement areas of Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaacov on the northern edge of east Jerusalem. But he decided against putting Anata under Palestinian control after Israel's right-wing opposition and settlers protested that it would divide Jerusalem.
"Everything that is related to Jerusalem will be discussed in the talks on the permanent status," Sneh said. "We do not want to deal with the very serious issue of Jerusalem through the back door."
The talks in Washington will be aimed at hammering out the thorniest issues still dividing the two sides, including the final status of Jerusalem, the borders of any future Palestinian state and another troop withdrawal as outlined in the 1993, Olso peace accords.
Arafat wants to make east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967, the capital of a Palestinian state. Israel claims the sector as part of its united capital, a position not recognized by the international community.
Sneh rejected complaints by Jewish settlers in the West Bank that their security was being put at risk by "Arafat's guns," saying that the Palestinian Authority was sincere in its will to fight terrorism. "Now those guns are aimed against a common enemy, which is Hamas," he said.
In another move Sunday, Israel released a first batch of five Palestinian prisoners to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. A further 10 "security" prisoners will be freed on Monday followed by a batch of 32 common criminals.
