RAMALLAH, 17 March 2005 — Israeli forces transferred control of Jericho to the Palestinians yesterday.
The gesture, delayed for weeks by wrangling over its scope, launched a process to turn over a total of five cities in the occupied West Bank to Palestinian authority agreed at a Feb. 8 summit between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Palestinian police deployed on access routes around Jericho vacated by soldiers. The handover was wrapped up after several hours with a handshake between Israeli and Palestinian security commanders on the edge of the town.
The deal permits armed Palestinian police to operate with an obligation to keep militants in check. In return, Israel agreed to end arrest raids and ease crippling restrictions on movement of the region’s 40,000 inhabitants. Some flashed V-for-victory signs and sat down to picnics in the oasis town as soldiers loaded concrete blocks used for checkpoints onto trucks and pulled away. Others were disappointed Israel had not lifted a security ban on its citizens entering Jericho.
Israel’s handover eases a military encirclement of Jericho, allowing residents to travel freely to other towns in the region as well as farther afield to Ramallah, the hub of Palestinian government and commerce in the central West Bank.
But Israeli soldiers have retained control over the nearby Jordan Valley transit highway used by many Israelis.
Abbas, elected in January to succeed the late Yasser Arafat on a platform of ending violence and embarking on negotiations for a Palestinian state, is meeting militant groups in Cairo this week to get them to declare a formal cease-fire.
A tacit deal to observe calm wrung by Abbas from militant leaders after his election has been prone to violations, including a Feb. 25 bombing that killed five Israelis.
— With input from agencies
