Jericho handover deal hits stalemate

Israeli and Palestinian security commanders failed to reach agreement today on the handover of the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinian security control, but decided to meet a second time to try to salvage a deal.

The dispute centres on the scope of the Israeli pullback, particularly whether Israel would remove the main army checkpoint at the entrance of the town. A failure to resolve the differences would deal a significant setback last month’s truce agreement.