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Israeli Army Withdrawing Tanks After Sharm el Sheikh Agreement
Ordered by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Tuesday night began to withdraw its tanks from the West Bank, the IDF said early Wednesday.
"The IDF began withdrawing its tanks from around Nablus and it will withdraw the rest of its tanks today," the IDF added.
Nablus is a Palestinian-controlled city in the northern part of the West Bank, which is also a hot spot of violent clashes between the Palestinians and IDF in the past three weeks.
Also on Wednesday, the IDF will remove the roadblocks around the Palestinian cities and open the border crossings and Gaza International Airport, local daily Ha'aretz quoted a military source as reporting on Wednesday.
But, a decision on lifting the closure of the territories will be made in the next few days, and the IDF will also maintain a large presence in the territories for the next few days until it becomes clear that the ceasefire agreement is in fact being implemented.
Israel imposed a total closure on the Palestinian territories on October 6 and redeployed its tanks to reinforce the closure around Palestinian cities and towns last Thursday following its air strikes against the Palestinian targets in the territories.
Under the agreement reached Tuesday at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, Israel will, as part implementation of the agreement, withdraw its forces in the territories to its positions held before the outbreak of the clashes late September, end the closure and open the Gaza Airport.
Moreover, Israelis and the Palestinians will work to reduce frictions, restore law and order and enhance security cooperation.
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