Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Shaoul Mofaz agreed on Tuesday on an Israeli pullout from the two West Bank cities of Tulkarm and Jericho.

The agreement was reached during their meeting Tuesday night at the Erez Crossing on the borders between northern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Abbas confirmed the pullout plan to reporters in a joint news conference with Mofaz after their meeting, which discussed several security issues between the two sides.

Abbas said several meetings of the joint Israeli-Palestinian committees for security and political affairs would hold in the coming few days.

"The committees would discuss the pullout from the two areas of Tulkarm and Jericho including the removal of barriers and roadblocks erected around them," said Abbas, adding "pullout is from major areas and not only cities."

Meanwhile, Mofaz also told reporters that Israel will likely transfer the West Bank cities of Jericho and Tulkarm to Palestinian security control in the next few days.

The transfer was part of an overall "step-by-step policy," he added.

Mofaz, however, stressed that "we must advance very cautiously" and the security of Israeli citizens was the top priority. Israeli security forces would continue to operate wherever they were needed, he stressed.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon adopted Mofaz's proposal that Jericho should be the first of five West Bank cities to be handed over.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2005)