Israeli and Palestinian negotiators reached an agreement in principle yesterday on a timetable for Israeli military withdrawals from the West Bank, as stipulated in the Wye River accord.
The first step will be a withdrawal from a further 7 per cent of West Bank territory starting from September. The remaining 4 per cent will be vacated by Israel by mid-January, Palestinian sources said. The agreement came at the end of a 6 1/2 hour meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Jerusalem.
Israeli radio confirmed the accord, quoting "top Israeli officials". It added that a first batch of Palestinian prisoners would also be released in September. However, the sides broke up yesterday with no agreement concerning what kind of prisoners will be set free.
Yesterday's agreement came after both sides made concessions, with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, agreeing that the first of the resumed withdrawals could take place a month earlier than previously announced.
The size of this first withdrawal has also been increased from the 5 per cent agreed under Wye to 7 per cent. Mr Barak also agreed to the completion of the withdrawals a month earlier than he had initially planned.
The original Wye agreement provided for an Israeli pullout in three stages from 13 per cent of the West Bank to be completed by January this year.
The former prime minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, implemented the first withdrawal of 2 per cent before freezing the agreement, complaining of a lack of Palestinian co-operation.
For their part, the Palestinians yesterday gave up on their calls for the pullback to be finished by mid-November, as the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, had demanded, the same sources said.
Despite the remaining problems over the prisoner issue both sides expressed cautious optimism that progress would be made before the arrival of the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, on September 2nd.