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Israeli Troops Pull Out of West Bank Town of Beit Jala
Israeli troops completed their withdrawal from the autonomous Palestinian town of Beit Jala in the West Bank at dawn on Thursday, an Israeli military source said.
Tanks, jeeps and armoured personnel carriers took the troops swiftly out of the little town, key areas of which they had occupied for some 50 hours, according to a reporter at the scene.
Colonel Farouk Amin of the Palestinian liaison office in the sector confirmed the report of the troop withdrawal.
An Israeli military spokesman said earlier that no Palestinian attacks had been launched during the night, the key condition for an Israeli withdrawal from the positions they had seized overnight Monday.
However Israeli public radio warned that army units posted at the entrance to Beit Jala remained at the ready to return should Palestinian gunfire in the area resume.
The green light for the troop withdrawal was given during a three-hour overnight meeting of the Israeli inner cabinet, a political source in Jerusalem said.
Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire in Beit Jala, after Israel's longest incursion of the uprising became bogged down by armed resistance and growing international criticism.
Israel agreed that its troops would withdraw overnight if Palestinian shooting on the nearby Jewish settlement at Gilo, near east Jerusalem, was halted.
Exchanges of gunfire could be heard in the area up to 10:00 pm. ((1900 GMT) after which calm was restored to Beit Jala.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presided over the inner cabinet meeting which was also attended by foreign minister Shimon Peres, defense minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and three other ministers, including new minister without portfolio Dan Meridor of the Centre Party.
After the meeting, Sharon telephoned US Secretary of State Colin Powell to inform him of the decision, the political source said.
The United States had been strongly critical of the Israeli incursion into Palestinian autonomous territory.
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