Israel and the Palestinians moved ahead Friday with provisions for the Gaza border with Egypt, in the wake of the recent Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, local newspaper Ha'aretz reported on its online edition.

The progress was made during the talks between Dov Weissglas, security advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat in Tel Aviv earlier on Friday to iron out the details of the summit between Sharon and Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

According to the Ha'aretz report, Weissglas and Erekat agreed on the establishment of two joint professional bodies to work out the arrangements for the Egypt-Gaza border at Rafah.

One of which will deal with security issues and the other with customs. The two bodies will begin work on Sunday, said the report.

The frontier crossing, which is for human traffic, will be jointly run by Israel and the PNA, with supervision by European Union inspectors and surveillance systems that will convey information to the Israeli side.

The talks on the borders were part of a series of meetings between top aides of the two sides ahead of an upcoming Sharon-Abbas summit due to be held next Tuesday. Weissglas and Erekat agreed Friday to hold a further round of talks ahead of the summit.

Abbas is due to meet with US President George W. Bush in Washington on Oct. 20. Both Israeli and Palestinian sides would like to demonstrate diplomatic progress before that.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2005)