130,000 protest over Gaza pullout plan

Mark Lavie, Jerusalem

During Sunday night's rally, one of the largest in Jerusalem's history, demonstrators pledged to try to disrupt the evacuation of settlements, set for this summer. However, the protest was unlikely to deter Mr Sharon who has stabilised his coalition, despite efforts to topple him.

"Ariel Sharon, you have no mandate to expel Jews," said Effie Eitam, a pro-settler representative, addressing a crowd estimated at about 130,000.

The settler protest came as a de-facto truce was taking hold and Israel was preparing to hand security control of West Bank towns to the Palestinians.

Palestinian police commanders said they were told to prepare to take control of four West Bank cities Ramallah, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Jericho tomorrow. However, Israeli officials said no steps would be taken ahead of a meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet on Thursday.

Palestinian security officials said they were told by their Israeli counterparts that in addition to leaving West Bank towns, troops would take down some roadblocks, rolling back security measures imposed after violence erupted in September 2000.

Israeli forces reoccupied West Bank towns in April 2002, after a series of particularly bloody suicide bombings, but have pulled back to the outskirts of population centres in most areas since then.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has won a commitment from militant groups to stop attacks and Israel has scaled back its military operations in return but no formal ceasefire declarations have ensued.

In another significant move, an Israeli official said yesterday that Israel would grant an amnesty to West Bank fugitives, ending its relentless search for dozens of militants suspected of carrying out or planning attacks.

The amnesty would allow Mr Abbas to fulfil a key election campaign pledge that fugitives would be allowed to reintegrate into Palestinian society with no fear of Israeli reprisal. Israel has long held that it had the right to strike at militants.