Israel Announces Agreement With Palestinians to End Violence

Israel Announces Agreement With Palestinians to End Violence

Israel announced Wednesday night an agreement with Palestinians on ending the violence in the Palestinian territories which has killed 71 people since last Thursday.

Meanwhile, all the participants in the three-way talks -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived about 23:30 local time (21:00 GMT) at the Elysee presidential palace to meet with French President Jacques Chirac.

According to the agreement, which was announced by an Israeli official, the Palestinians have agreed not to demonstrate at three sensitive points in Ramallah, Nablus and Netzarim in the West Bank.

These three points witnessed over the past several days some of the bloodiest clashes, including the shooting to death by Israeli soldiers of the 12-year-old boy, Mohamed Jamal al-Durra, who died in the arms of his father.

This picture was widely broadcast and published on television and in newspapers around the world and has triggered an international protest.

The agreement also includes "slight re-deployment" of Israeli troops near Palestinian towns and a promise of Israeli troops to respect the rule when they open fire, said the Israeli official.

The third point is the evaluation and following of the situation on the Palestinian territories by Israeli and Palestinian security officers with the help of the U.S. CIA.

The agreement will be officially signed on Thursday in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, said the official. The Palestinian delegation has not made any announcement so far.