A senior Palestinian official, reacting to a reported Israeli security cabinet decision to give the Palestinian authorities 24 hours to end weeks of violence, said Friday that Israel must take actions to bring calm.
"As they want us to respect it, they must respect it," Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath told AFP, referring to an "understanding" reached early Thursday Wednesday between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres.
"The pullback of the Israeli forces, the halting of firing, and the lifting of the closure (on the Palestinian territories) are the path to returning to calm and stability," Shaath said.
Efforts began to implement the accord early Thursday, before a car bomb blast in west Jerusalem, which killed two Israelis threatened to upset the process yet again.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met late Thursday with his security cabinet to decide on the next move in the bid to rescue the peace process and came up with the 24-hour deadline, Israeli radio reported.
The Israeli army said late Thursday it had implemented measures to reduce violence in the Palestinian territories as stipulated in the accord reached between Arafat and Peres.
"Conforming with these agreements, our armored vehicles (in the West Bank) have returned to their hangars and bases, and are no longer in advanced positions. The heavy vehicles in the Gaza Strip have moved and are no longer positioned along the principal routes," the statement said.
It said the army has also "evacuated a position that it established several days ago on the main road linking Karni to the Netzarim settlement, in an area totally under Israeli control," referring to the access road between Gaza and Israel.
"The senior officers in southern and central Israel have met with their Palestinian counterpoints to restore calm," it added.
The Palestinian territories remain sealed off from Israel, however, and the Palestinian airport in the Gaza Strip is still closed – GAZA CITY (AFP)
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