Jerusalem — Israel is preparing to pull back troops from some Palestinian areas and release prisoners when the first Palestinian prime minister takes office, perhaps early next week, an Israeli official said Friday.
The measures were discussed with U.S. officials during a meeting with a top aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this week in Washington, said Raanan Gissin, a Sharon spokesman.
The United States has been asking Israel to support the designated Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and has said it will present a “road map” peace plan — which envisions a Palestinian state — once Mr. Abbas takes power and forms his cabinet. That could happen as early as Sunday.
Mr. Sharon has said that he would meet with Mr. Abbas, who has spoken out against the Palestinian uprising, once he is in office.
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The blueprint Israeli measures, intended to help ease Mr. Abbas into power, were drawn up in recent weeks by Israel’s army. The Maariv newspaper said the plan follows secret talks with senior Palestinian officials, including former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, who is slated to become a minister in Mr. Abbas’s cabinet.
The confidence-building measures would include a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian areas, the release of Palestinian prisoners and the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, Gissin said. He did not specify which Palestinian areas the troop withdrawals would involve.
During 2½ years of violence, Israel has frozen $534-million (U.S.) in taxes and customs collected from Palestinian labourers and merchants, charging that the Palestinian Authority is involved in terrorism and that the money might be used to finance attacks.
The plan would also allow thousands of Palestinian labourers to return to jobs they have not been able to reach in Israel since the fighting started, easing a ban that has crippled the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat said he hoped to see an Israeli acceptance of the plan, which envisions a Palestinian state with provisional borders as early as this year.
“What’s needed are not gestures,” he said. “What’s needed are commitments. ... One thing we haven’t heard from the Israelis is their acceptance of the road map.”
The United States has conditioned introduction of the road map on the transfer of power from Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat to Mr. Abbas. Mr. Arafat has been reluctant to relax his grip on the Palestinian leadership.
A congressional delegation met unofficially with the two men on Thursday — the first high-level meeting between U.S. officials and Mr. Arafat since President George W. Bush effectively boycotted him in June. The talks were not sanctioned by the U.S. State Department.
As part of the loosened restrictions in Palestinian areas, Israel’s military recommended transferring control of an area of Mr. Abbas’s choosing to Palestinian security forces, who would be responsible for controlling militant activity there.
The first withdrawal is most likely to be in the Gaza Strip.
According to Maariv, the army would refrain from “military operations that are not essential to the war on terror,” an apparent reference to the targeted missile attacks and other killings of dozens of extremist Palestinians.
The West Bank and Gaza Strip, meanwhile, remained under a tight rein Friday after Israeli officials received information that Palestinians were planning attacks during the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover, which began Wednesday.
Last year, a Palestinian terrorist blew himself up in a hotel in the Israeli seaside resort of Netanya during a Passover meal, killing 29.
