TEL AVIV, 31 January 2005 — Israel will transfer security control over several West Bank towns to the Palestinians in coming days, Israel’s defense minister said yesterday, hours after he met with a Palestinian negotiators to work out the details of Israel’s troop redeployment.

A senior Palestinian security official said the first four towns — Ramallah, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Jericho — would be handed over on Wednesday.

The planned handover is the latest sign of rapid changes on the ground. It is accompanied by a rebuilding of trust after more than four years of fighting and a flurry of diplomatic meetings.

The announcement comes as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas took the peace initiative to Moscow yesterday in the first direct engagement of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the conflict in four years.

Israel has informed Palestinian officials that is ready to withdraw “within a very short period of time” from all West Bank population centers and to return to positions it held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, said Hassan Abu Libdeh, a senior Palestinian official. Such a withdrawal is part of the long-stalled US-backed “road map” peace plan, which both sides now say they are ready to implement.

Abu Libdeh said the pullback would include the removal of some of the roadblocks that now ring Palestinian towns and severely disrupt daily life in the West Bank.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, said Feb. 8 is emerging as a target date for a summit between Palestinian leader Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a crucial stop toward ending hostilities and resuming peace talks. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to arrive in the region two days earlier for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Palestinian officials said they expect a wide-ranging agenda that will include the declaration of a formal truce, a large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners and the resumption of peace negotiations. Israel, however, appears reluctant to move from security concerns into political matters.

The renewed peace hopes came after a sharp drop in violence. Abbas has obtained a promise from armed groups to halt attacks on Israel, and has deployed Palestinian police across the Gaza Strip. In response, Israel’s army chief said he would halt military operations in Gaza and scale them back in the West Bank.

Yesterday, a 65-year-old Palestinian civilian was killed by Israeli army fire along the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian officials said. The military said the man was deep inside a no-go zone, close to an Israeli army post along a patrol road near the border, when troops shot him.

Late Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met for nearly five hours with Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Dahlan, a former Palestinian security chief, at a Tel Aviv to discuss a West Bank redeployment.

Mofaz later told a meeting of Israel’s Cabinet that in the past few days there was a drop of up to 75 percent in Palestinian attacks.

Dahlan left without speaking to reporters, but Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei described the meeting as constructive. “We hope that when it comes to implementation, it will be positive,” Qorei added.

Palestinian officials said security commanders are to meet today to work out the details of the handover. A second Mofaz-Dahlan meeting is tentatively set for tomorrow, Palestinian officials said.

The two sides also discussed the return of 39 Palestinian militants who were deported from the West Bank in 2002, after a monthlong siege at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Most of the deportees will be allowed to return, said a Palestinian official involved in the negotiations.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Saturday that Abbas is “very close” to a political agreement with the militants that would include a cease-fire, but added that a formal halt to violence would depend on Israel. He said Israel must formally accept a cease-fire, withdraw troops from West Bank cities and release some of the 7,000 prisoners it is holding to move forward with the accord.

Qorei held talks with militant factions in Gaza City yesterday as part of efforts to reach an agreement for a halt to anti-Israeli attacks. Political representatives of groups such as Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) took part in the impromptu meeting of the Islamic national high committee with Qorei. Hamas was not present, with members saying that organizers had not been able to contact them in time.

In Gaza, a political rally by Hamas in the Maghazi refugee camp turned violent Saturday. Supporters of the rival Fatah faction opened fire, sparking a melee that injured more than 20 people. The rally was held to celebrate Hamas’ victory in municipal elections in Gaza earlier this week.

Meanwhile, some 2,000 police were being deployed to the Israeli parliament ahead of a mass demonstration called by Gaza settlers and their supporters in protest at the planned pullout from the territory later this year.