Israel offers withdrawals in Gaza, Bethlehem

Palestinian negotiators to go to U.S. for Rice, Powell talks

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel has offered to withdraw from positions it has occupied around Gaza and in Bethlehem, giving the Palestinian Authority a chance to resume security control.

Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said that Israel is willing to withdraw from occupied cities in the West Bank if the Palestinians can demonstrate security control.

Palestinian sources said the Palestinians accepted the offer in which the Israelis would pull back from areas they occupy in Gaza and allow Palestinians free movement on roads there.

Israeli troops are in the southern city of Rafah and control roads that criss-cross Gaza, blocking the movement of Palestinian security forces, according to Palestinians.

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The troops have moved in and out of Gaza and Bethlehem in response to Palestinian terror attacks since the beginning of the current intifada in September 2000.

Israel also imposed restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in some West Bank cities following a wave of terror attacks that killed 13 Israelis in recent days, including a suicide bombing on a bus Sunday in northern Israel.

Palestinians are eager for the Israelis to withdraw from all the West Bank cities they occupy, but they realize the process will be slow because the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus there has been destroyed, Palestinian sources said.

Ben-Eliezer made the Israeli offer in a meeting Monday in Jerusalem with key Palestinian officials. He proposed the Gaza withdrawal, saying the Palestinian security structure in that area has not been disrupted.

No timetable was set, but the two sides agreed to form security committees, one for each area, and to meet again Tuesday to discuss the technical details for beginning the withdrawal

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he hoped Israel would allow the proposal to go forward.

"I don't want to raise anyone's expectations," Erakat said, "but this is an effort, and it should be given a chance."

The meeting came as Palestinian negotiators prepared to fly to Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Other developments

The IDF did not identify the two, but the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported they were Ali Ajouri, 23, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, and Murat Marshut, 19, also a member of the militia from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The militia is linked to Arafat's Fatah movement.

The Israeli government had accused Ajouri of sending suicide bombers into Israel last month to set off blasts near the old central bus station in Tel Aviv. Five people died in that bombing.