US Vice President Mr Dick Cheney has said he is ready to meet Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat in the near future if Mr Arafat implements a US-brokered ceasefire.
Mr Cheney, at a news conference in Jerusalem today, said: "I told the prime minister that I would be ready to meet with Chairman Arafat in the period ahead at a site in the region to be determined".
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said: "I told the vice president [Mr Cheney] that the implementation of the Tenet agreement will enable Mr Arafat to go outside the borders of the [Palestinian] territories and this has been decided by the cabinet," Mr Sharon said.
If the Tenet plan, drawn up by CIA director Mr George Tenet, is implemented, Mr Arafat "may be able to go to Beirut. It's all a matter of days," Mr Sharon said.
Mr Arafat has said he hopes to attend the Arab League summit in Beirut, at which Saudi Arabia is due to present a Middle East land-for-peace proposal. He has been trapped in the West Bank city of Ramallah for more than three months by an Israeli army blockade.
Mr Sharon said the Israeli government would have to decide whether to allow Mr Arafat to return if his behaviour at the summit amounted to "incitement".
The Tenet plan calls for a truce and a wider Israeli pullback to positions held before the start of the almost 18-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian authorities would be expected to arrest militants and seize illegal arms.
The sides would then move to peace talks under a plan drawn up by a committee led by former US Senator Mr George Mitchell.
The Israeli army said today it had completed its withdrawal from the Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem area of the West Bank and the north of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian security sources and witnesses said Israeli troops quit the West Bank town of Beit Jala late last night. Palestinian police entered the town early today to keep the ceasefire, according to agreements between field commanders from both sides.
Further pullouts were expected from the West Bank town of Bethlehem and surrounding areas, as well as from parts of the Gaza Strip where Israel sent in forces over the past two weeks to combat Palestinian attacks.
But the ceasefire efforts were followed by violence after nightfall. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian toting a gun and grenades, sources from both sides said. A Palestinian civilian was also killed overnight by Israeli gunfire at Deir al-Balah in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
A Palestinian cameraman for a local television station was reportedly shot dead by soldiers in his West Bank village near Hebron. The Israeli army said it had no knowledge of the incident.