Israel eases restrictions on Palestinians

The Israeli military has begun easing restrictions on the Palestinians, the first concrete results of a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers designed to smooth the path toward implementing a US-backed peace plan.

A statement released by the army said that the Israeli government had approved the lifting of the closure over the West Bank and Gaza Strip to begin at midnight local time (10pm Irish time last night).

The closure was imposed two weeks ago, banning all Palestinians from entering Israel.

During the Thursday night summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas that Israel would ease restrictions on the Palestinian population, moves Israel calls confidence building gestures.

Among the measures announced after the meeting were allowing 25,000 Palestinian workers into Israel, expanding the permitted fishing areas off the coast of the Gaza Strip and releasing some Palestinian prisoners.

Yesterday the Palestinians said the US accepts a Palestinian plan to persuade militant groups to halt anti-Israeli attacks rather than launch an immediate crackdown.

Israel has said that for now it would accept a cease-fire from the militants, though it wants Palestinian officials to disarm and disband the groups as soon as possible.

The Palestinian comments on a possible cease-fire followed a meeting between Mr Abbas and US officials yesterday to haggle over the wording of Israeli-Palestinian declarations recognising each side’s right to statehood and security – the first step of an internationally backed peace “road map” to be discussed at a summit with US President George W Bush later this week.

The security issue has been a main sticking point ahead of a three-way summit with Mr Abbas, Mr Sharon and Mr Bush, set for the Jordanian resort of Aqaba on Wednesday.

The Israelis have demanded that Mr Abbas wage a decisive crackdown on militant groups in the West Bank and Gaza that have launched scores of attacks, killing more than 350 people in the past 32 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Mr Abbas has said he preferred to use persuasion to stop the attacks, and that he could have a cease-fire agreement with Hamas within days. The Palestinian Cabinet released a statement last night saying that officials were still hopeful that an accord could be reached soon.

Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said that the Americans had accepted Mr Abbas’s position.

“This is an important goal for us,” he told reporters yesterday following a meeting Mr Abbas and Mr Shaath held with US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns.

Meanwhile, the militant group Islamic Jihad distributed fliers yesterday saying that it has “no intention of attacking the American people and do not consider the American people our enemy” – a response to a warning the US Embassy posted on its web site on Friday saying that it had received “credible reports” of plans to kidnap US citizens in the Gaza Strip. The warning was still posted on the site yesterday.

The militant group Hamas issued a similar statement on Friday.

Two Palestinian militants died yesterday. The first, a 21 year-old Hamas activist identified as Mohammed Shalash, was killed by Israeli troops south of the West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian witnesses said.

The army said that troops fired at two militants who were planting a large explosive device along a road used by Israeli troops, hitting one. The other was captured after a short pursuit. The army said it detonated the 150lb device later in a controlled explosion.

The declarations by the Israelis and Palestinians recognising the rights of the other to security and statehood are supposed to be the first step of the U.S.-backed road map peace plan, which begins with a halt to the violence and leads to a full-fledged Palestinian state in 2005.