Israel pulls out of Bethlehem
Israeli troops pulled out of the Bethlehem area early today, Palestinians said, boosting chances for a truce to end nearly 18 months of violence.
The pull-out came after US Vice President Dick Cheney, on a visit to the region, urged both sides to end their conflict, reflecting concerns in Washington that the Middle East violence could interfere with US plans to confront Iraq.
Palestinians demanded that Israel pull its forces out of Palestinian-controlled territory, about 40% of the West Bank, as a condition for truce talks.
Earlier this month, in its biggest military operation in decades, Israel moved troops and tanks into several West Bank towns and refugee camps, looking for militants, confiscating weapons and explosives and blowing up suspected arms factories.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the operation.
By the weekend, the Israelis said they had pulled out of all the West Bank population centres except Bethlehem.
The withdrawal from the Bethlehem area, where Israeli tanks had come within a few hundred yards of the Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus, ended the operation.
Along with the biblical town, Israeli forces also withdrew from neighbouring Beit Jalla, where Palestinian gunmen have often fired at Gilo, a Jewish neighbourhood across a shallow valley, built in a disputed part of Jerusalem claimed by both sides.
Israeli forces also left El-Khader and the Aida refugee camp, next to Bethlehem, Palestinian security officers said.
West Bank Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub was not satisfied with the Israeli move. He said Israeli troops still controlled parts of Tulkarem and Qalqilya, though the Israelis said they had withdrawn.
Mr Rajoub said the Israelis must declare an ‘‘immediate end to their aggression in all its forms, including house demolition, closures, and assassination’’, and promise political negotiations as well as military talks.
But a ceasefire to halt the violence, at least temporarily, seemed closer than ever. Mr Cheney had a second meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon set for Thursday morning, and US envoy Anthony Zinni was to see Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah around the same time, Mr Arafat’s office said.
Mr Zinni has been shuttling between the two sides since Thursday. In a sign that a deal was in the works, he convened three meetings of security commanders from the two sides within 24 hours on Sunday and yesterday.
Several ceasefires have been declared in the past, only to collapse under new outbreaks of violence.
Though Mr Cheney had not scheduled a meeting with Mr Arafat, it was widely believed that if the two sides declared a truce, Mr Cheney would see the Palestinian leader.
It would be Mr Arafat’s highest-level contact with the Bush administration.
A month of rapidly spiralling violence and casualties on both sides appeared to push them toward a ceasefire and away from it at the same time. While some said the bloodshed was pointless, others clamoured for more, to teach their rivals a lesson.
Speaking at an arrival ceremony for Mr Cheney yesterday, Mr Sharon said that the Palestinians must be shown that ‘‘terror and violence will achieve nothing’’.
In violence yesterday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an armed Palestinian near a crossing point between Gaza and Israel, the military said. Palestinians said he was a member of the militant Islamic Jihad.
A 52-year-old Palestinian was killed by tank fire when Israeli forces moved toward Dir al-Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian doctors said.
Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets into Israel from northern Gaza, the military said. Palestinians said Israel sent armoured vehicles to search farms afterward.
Israeli soldiers also tracked down and arrested two Palestinians who had infiltrated into northern Israel, planning to carry out a terror attack, the military said.
