Israel grants work permits to 5,000 Palestinians

Cabinet also votes to ease curfews in West Bank

Palestinians pass an Israeli bulldozer on the way to the West Bank town of Nablus. Israeli troops occupy most West Bank cities, but curfews have been eased.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A day after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat apparently fired two security officials, the Israeli Cabinet voted to ease restrictions on Palestinians, granting permits that will allow 5,000 to enter Israel to work.

Reports in the Israeli media said that the Cabinet rejected Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer's plan to grant work permits to 30,000 Palestinian workers.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israeli troops would remain in most Palestinian cities but would ease restrictions in stages, especially in cities that were quiet.

"We will remain in the centers of the cities," Sharon said.

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The Cabinet also voted to begin easing curfews in most West Bank cities and discussed freeing some funds held for the Palestinian Authority under U.S. or European supervision.

Ra'anan Gissin, a Sharon spokesman, said the Saudi Arabian government had passed a message through Jewish businessmen that the Saudis approve of U.S. President Bush's vision for the Middle East. Bush said last week the United States would support a Palestinian state based upon the condition of new leadership.

The Saudi message urged the Israelis, in support of Bush's plan, to ease restrictions on Palestinians.

As part of this move, the curfew in Hebron was lifted from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, in Nablus from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Ramallah from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and in Jenin from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The curfews had been in effect for the entire day, with periodic liftings for one or two hours.

Israeli troops continue to occupy most West Bank cities as part of Operation Determined Path, a military campaign that began after two suicide bombings last month in Jerusalem that killed 26 Israelis. As a part of that campaign, Israeli troops have imposed curfews on more than 700,000 Palestinians.

Palestinian officials deny knowledge of firings

In a shuffling of top Palestinian security officials, Arafat late Tuesday dismissed his West Bank security chief and the longtime Palestinian police chief, according to Palestinian officials.

However, both security officials said Wednesday they had not been officially notified.

West Bank preventive security chief Jibril Rajoub said Wednesday he had not been notified of his dismissal.

An aide to Jibril Rajoub, West Bank preventive security chief, said Rajoub was told he was dismissed from the position and replaced by Zuhair Manasra, governor of Jenin.

However, Rajoub said Wednesday that while he was ready to step aside if Arafat wanted him to do so, he had received no official notification. Rajoub has been considered a possible successor to Arafat.

Gen. Ghazi Jabali, the longtime Palestinian police chief, was also dismissed, according to Palestinian sources in Gaza. However, Jabali also said he had received no formal notification.

Arafat has faced increasing pressure from the United States and Israel to do more to reform his security service and to get them to crack down on terrorists. Palestinians have said the Israeli military has crushed their security network, making it tough to round up the suspects Israel wants.

News of the dismissals came shortly after the conclusion of a meeting in London, where key international factions discussed Palestinian security.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that representatives of the so-called Madrid quartet -- the United States, United Nations, Russia and European Union -- had joined in the discussions. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns was the key U.S. official at the meeting.

Powell said the meeting was to "help the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leaders begin to put in place a more effective security structure to keep the violence under control."

Powell also said that the United States believes Arafat could face a challenge from within the Palestinian Authority.

"There are these fissures within the Palestinian leadership that suggest maybe people are starting to realize where are we getting with the current leadership that we have and perhaps we should consider new leaders," Powell said.

State Department spokeswoman Lynn Cassel added, "There was broad agreement on the importance of real reform of the Palestinian political structure, the economy, legal system, security apparatus and the creation of an environment in which democracy and a civil society can grow and flourish."

Other development

Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military.