Israel to freeze handover of towns to Palestinians

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said today that he is freezing the handover of West Bank towns to Palestinian security control because the Palestinians have failed to honour their promise to disarm militants.

Mofaz spoke during a meeting of Israel’s Security Cabinet, and his comments were reported by anonymous participants.

During a Mideast summit in February, Israel pledged to transfer five West Bank towns to Palestinian control over a period of several weeks. However, so far Israel has only handed over the towns of Jericho and Tulkarem.

The Tulkarem handover took place on March 22, and the process has been stuck since then.

Israel has said repeatedly it is not moving forward because the Palestinians have failed to crack down on gunmen in these areas.

During today’s Security Cabinet meeting, Mofaz confirmed to the ministers that he has frozen the process, participants said.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian Authority was never formally notified of the Israeli freeze. “It’s a very unfortunate approach and decision,” he said.

Israel Radio, meanwhile, said preparations were under way to free a further 400 Palestinian prisoners, as agreed in the truce deal.

It gave no further details. Israel freed 500 prisoners in February.

Israeli and Palestinian Cabinet ministers are to meet next week to discuss the release.