OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 20 August 2003 — Israel appeared ready yesterday to hand over control of two West Bank towns to the Palestinian authorities this week as a step toward reviving the flagging peace process.

Public radio quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying Israel was set to pull back from the towns of Jericho and Qalqilya, which would be the first such withdrawals on the West Bank in nearly seven weeks. “The Palestinians will have to prevent militants from leaving these towns,” Mofaz said, reiterating Israel’s requirement that it be protected from militants seeking to carry out anti-Israeli attacks.

Mofaz said the pullbacks would eventually be extended to the towns of Ramallah and Tulkarem, according to the radio. The web site of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted the minister as saying the Israelis would hand over control of Jericho and Qalqilya in two days. There was no immediate confirmation of the reports from the Defense Ministry.

Mofaz had earlier attended a meeting along with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top security aides to discuss the transfers, which had been agreed in principle last week but became bogged down in details. Local commanders from both sides were due to resume talks later yesterday to iron out lingering disagreements on issues such as checkpoints, which led to an earlier round of talks stalling on Sunday. Gen. Rebhi Arafat, who was due to lead the Palestinian delegation later yesterday at a new round of talks on the withdrawals, said it was too early to say that a deal was in the bag.

“Until now the Israelis have not informed us about anything, and we are still waiting for the meeting tonight,” he told AFP.

The talks on Sunday were also snagged on the fate of wanted militants, but Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan said the issue was “about to be resolved.”

An agreement could lead to the first handover of policing authority to the Palestinians since Israeli troops pulled back from the West Bank town of Bethlehem on July 2, days after a similar move in parts of Gaza.

The pullbacks are part of a US-backed “road map” for peace, which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state by 2005 but has made limited progress since it was launched at a summit on June 4.

At Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush said yesterday the Palestinian Authority could, with US help, quickly step up efforts to “dismantle and destroy” extremist groups which threaten the peace initiative. “I think the Palestinian Authority needs to continue to work with the United States and others who are interested in dismantling militant organizations and ask for the help necessary so they can go and do what they need to do, which is dismantle and destroy organizations which are interested in killing innocent lives in order to prevent a peace process from going forward,” Bush added.