Israeli troops pull out of last West Bank town

Israel on Tuesday pulled out of the last of six West Bank towns it held for several weeks, complying with a key US demand just hours after the arrival of two US mediators who are trying to revive a truce deal.

The US envoys, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, held talks Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After the meeting, the visitors were to go on a helicopter tour of Israel and the Palestinian areas, with Sharon outlining Israel's security needs.

After 14 months of Israeli–Palestinian fighting and several failed truce efforts, the mediators face a hard task. Both sides say they are willing to commit to a cease–fire, but each accuses the other of being the aggressor who must take the first step.

Sharon insists on a week without Palestinian attacks before Israel will carry out its obligations under a US–backed truce brokered earlier this year, including pulling back troops, lifting blockades of Palestinian communities and, further down the road, halting Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians say Sharon's condition is a ploy to get out of keeping his commitments, and that he has escalated Israeli military strikes in hopes of sabotaging a truce.

Before dawn Monday, Israel withdrew from Jenin, the last of six West Bank towns it invaded last month after the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister by Palestinian militants. The United States has repeatedly demanded that Israel withdraw its army from Palestinian areas and keep it out.

The last eight tanks drove out of Jenin before daybreak, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said troops redeployed outside to nearby positions "from which (Israeli forces) can continue to protect the security of the citizens of Israeli ... and prevent terrorism."

Israel said it remained in Jenin longer than in the other towns because of warnings that Palestinian militants in Jenin were planning attacks in Israel. Several Palestinian suicide bombers have come from Jenin.

In the diplomatic arena, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met late Monday with Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath, who is a key negotiator, and U.N. envoy Terje Roed–Larsen at the same hotel where Burns and Zinni were staying, according to officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

On their first full day in the region, the envoys were planning to meet with Peres and Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben–Eliezer, in addition to Sharon. On Wednesday, the mediators were to hold talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Zinni is expected to remain in the region to try to push the sides toward a truce. On Israel's side, the day–to–day contacts with the Americans will be handled by Meir Dagan, a former counter–terrorism adviser who has repeatedly expressed doubt about Arafat's willingness to make peace with Israel. The Palestinian pointman is Ahmed Qureia, a veteran negotiator and parliament speaker.

The difference in levels of team heads suggested Israel wants to concentrate on implementing a truce, while the Palestinians hope for political progress.

In another development, the Israeli military acknowledged that a bomb it planted was responsible for the death of five Palestinian children in a Gaza Strip refugee camp last week. The army said in a statement that troops placed the bomb in an area from which Palestinian gunmen repeatedly fire at an Israeli military post and settlement. The army said the death of the children "was serious and very regrettable."

Since fighting erupted on Sept. 28, 2000, 770 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 198 people on the Israeli side.