Israeli Army Pulls out of Palestinian Town in West Bank

The Israeli Army are withdrawing its tanks and soldiers early Thursday from Beit Jala in the West Bank, two days after their blitz incursion in the Palestinian-ruled area, palestinian witnesses said.

The withdrawal reportedly came after an agreement reached between the two sides on Wednesday.

Israel agreed to keep out of the town, just south of Jerusalem, as long as Palestinian gunmen there stopped shooting at Gilo, an Israeli neighborhood on Jerusalem's southern edge that has been under repeated fire for months. Gunfire in Beit Jala reportedly stopped around midnight, and the Israeli forces began moving out about four hours later, just before dawn.

The Israeli Army confirmed the withdrawal. But Israel's public radio said government officials had warned that the tanks would take up new positions not far away, and if the shooting resumed, they would re-enter Beit Jala in "even greater force."

The move into Beit Jala on Tuesday, for an indefinite stay that deepened the Middle East crisis, was intended to make life safe for Gilo's residents. Israel defended its operation as an act of self-defense, but Palestinians denounced it as a step toward reoccupying territory that forms their autonomous zones. The United States and other countries added their criticism of what turned out to be Israel's most prolonged stay in an area that is under Palestinian control.

All through Wednesday, diplomats and officials on both sides tried to arrange a truce. An agreement was finally reached with help from deplomats of the United States and the European Union.

Also, the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres, had several telephone conversations with the Palestinian Authority chairman, Yasir Arafat, on restoring calm to this phase of the 11-month-old conflict.

But an understanding on a withdrawal faltered Wednesday night when firing on Gilo resumed, as did fighting in Beit Jala, where soldiers took over several positions and, for a while, a Lutheran church compound, to shoot at Palestinian gunmen crouching on the streets.

But then things calmed down. After a three-hour meeting with senior cabinet members, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, agreed to remove Israel's soldiers as long as the situation did not deteriorate. A cabinet minister, Dan Meridor, said that the only alternative to the withdrawal would have been to remain in Beit Jala with a military force of "even greater dimension."

Some of Mr. Sharon's advisers expressed skepticism that Mr. Arafat would keep the truce. But aides to the more dovish Mr. Peres said they hoped that a deal on Gilo and Beit Jala might serve as an example to end the fighting elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The agreement may have also breathed new life into attempts to arrange a Peres-Arafat meeting to discuss how to bring about the first meaningful cease-fire in Israel and Palestinian territories since the conflict began nearly a year ago. Some officials talked about a possible meeting next week, perhaps in Europe, and Mr. Peres raised the matter in a talk with members of his Labor Party on Wednesday night.

(China.org.cn 08/30/2001)