Israel plans to withdraw its forces later today from recently reoccupied Palestinian-ruled areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli security sources said.
They said a pullout from the areas occupied in a two-week offensive had been agreed during meetings between Israeli and Palestinian security officials hosted by US envoy General Anthony Zinni as a precursor to efforts to end 18 months of violence.
Israeli forces in the field will get instructions to be ready to withdraw tonight if the Palestinians agree to take security control over these areas, an Israeli security source said. The Palestinians must show up tonight to take control.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said: The Israelis simply have to implement the pullout. Palestinian and Israeli field commanders met today in the West Bank town of Beit Jala to discuss the mechanism for an Israeli withdrawal from the town and nearby Bethlehem, Palestinian security officials said.
The meeting followed high-level Israeli-Palestinian security talks earlier in the day in which the two sides, hosted by Mr Zinni, discussed ways of implementing a US-brokered truce-to-talks plan and agreed to meet again in the coming days, sources from both sides said.
Early in March Israel began its largest offensive against the Palestinians in decades amid a wave of daily Palestinian shooting and bombing attacks that brought their conflict to the brink of war.
Late last week the army pulled out of the city of Ramallah - the West Bank power base of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat - after Mr Zinni arrived in the region on a truce drive.
Palestinian officials insisted no ceasefire could be implemented until Israel pulled out of all areas it occupied. Troops remain in parts of the Gaza Strip, as well as Bethlehem and its environs.
But while Mr Zinni appeared to be making progress in his efforts to end some 18 months of violence, the Palestinians and the United States were on a collision course over a visit to Israel by US Vice President Mr Dick Cheney.
Mr Cheney arrived in Israel where he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the end of an 11-nation Middle East tour in which Israeli-Palestinian violence clouded his efforts to rally Arab countries to future US moves in a global war against terror.
A US official said the vice president was keeping his schedule open for talks with a Palestinian delegation.
However, Palestinian Information Minister Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Palestinian leadership had decided that if Mr Cheney did not meet President Yasser Arafat, no Palestinian official would see him.
A Western diplomatic source said that the Americans had not scheduled a meeting with Mr Arafat because the Bush administration did not wish to reward Mr Arafat when it was accusing him of doing too little to prevent terrorism against Israelis.