Palestinians said on Sunday Israel had agreed to hand over the first of five occupied West Bank cities this week after the resumption of stalled security talks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sought an Israeli withdrawal from the cities it reoccupied during a 4-1/2-year uprising, saying he needed to regain control over them to meet US and Israeli demands to rein in gunmen.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised to transfer control over five cities on the eve of a groundbreaking summit in Egypt last month, but froze talks after five Israelis were killed in a February 28 bombing in Tel Aviv. Top commanders from both sides met to discuss the delayed Israeli pullout on Sunday. Later a senior Palestinian security official told Reuters: ?We will assume our security responsibilities in (the West Bank town of) Tulkarm on Tuesday.?

Israeli officials confirmed the issue was discussed at a meeting held ?in a good atmosphere.?But a Defense Ministry official said that no date for a hand over had been set.

The cities to be handed over had been under Palestinian rule following a 1993 interim peace accord, but were reoccupied by Israel during an uprising that erupted when peace talks failed in September 2000. Israeli and Palestinian officials resumed talks in recent days as security cooperation improved and five suspects were arrested over the Tel Aviv bombing, claimed by Damascus-based Islamic Jihad militants. Israeli security sources said Palestinians had also informed them about a militant plan to manufacture crude Qassam rockets in the West Bank and a car bomb in the town of Jenin.

Israel?s Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will meet Abbas in the coming days ?with the aim of rescuing a deadlocked peace process,? a ministry official said. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, told Reuters the meeting would address ?transferring security authority in the cities and improving security coordination which has been going pretty well in the past few days.? After four years of deadlock under Yasser Arafat, who Israel shunned and accused of fomenting violence, peace prospects have improved with Abbas?s election to succeed Arafat in January.

Sharon again urged Abbas on Sunday to disarm militants, telling visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki that Abbas?s refusal to confront gunmen could strengthen militant groups and thwart peace efforts. Abbas has vowed to fight armed chaos in the Palestinian territories but has sought to do so through dialogue, concerned that force could lead to civil strife. Sharon told Mulki the peace plan should be implemented ?without any shortcuts? and said Israel would not deal with permanent settlement talks until Abbas disarmed militants, the prime minister?s office said in a statement.

<B>Mohammed Assadi</B>