Palestinians move freely in Gaza

Gaza's main highway had been closed for more than two years

Palestinian police have been taking control of northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip, after a crucial Israeli troop withdrawal.

The Israeli army removed the main checkpoints on the main north-south highway, allowing Palestinians free movement along it for the first time in more than two years.

The two sides are discussing an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank - as required by the US-backed peace plan known as the roadmap - after three main groups of Palestinian militants declared a ceasefire.

The first full day of the truce was marred when a Palestinian faction killed a foreigner working for an Israeli company in the northern West Bank.

Click below for a map of the Gaza Strip before the Israeli withdrawal

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A local leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said his group had carried out the attack near Jenin to show their rejection of the truce.

The White House urged the Palestinian Authority to act to bring what it called the "perpetrators of terrorism" to justice.

But despite the shooting, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the peace process was "entering a new era".

Palestinian cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo welcomed the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

"Ending the [Israeli] occupation is the main goal of the Palestinian people," he told the BBC.

Officials on both sides held further talks on Monday to arrange an Israeli withdrawal for the West Bank.

Al-Aqsa role

Palestinian security officials said Israel had agreed to withdraw from Bethlehem on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, on Tuesday, to discuss further implementation of the roadmap, Mr Abbas's office said.

Although the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades has not agreed to the truce, it is an offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, which has.

ROADMAP MAIN POINTS

Phase 1 (to May 2003): End to violence against Israelis and Palestinians; Palestinian political reform; Israeli withdrawal and freeze on settlement expansion; Palestinian elections

Phase 2: (June-Dec 2003) Creation of an independent Palestinian state; international conference and international monitoring of compliance with roadmap

Phase 3 (2004-2005): Second international conference; permanent status agreement and end of conflict; agreement on final borders, Jerusalem, refugees and settlements; Arab states to agree to peace deals with Israel

Text: Palestinian groups' truce

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade

Fatah joined the main militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in declaring a suspension to attacks on Sunday, raising hopes of an end to 33 months of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.

The breakthrough followed intense efforts by the United States administration in recent weeks to try to get both sides to press ahead with the peace plan.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday stressed that the truce was a "positive development", but added that it was not enough to ensure lasting peace.

"You can't have people with guns, armed militias, inside of a state," Mr Powell said on American television.

"If you're going to have a Palestinian state, all the force, all the weapons have to be under the government of the state."

Mr Powell also said that US troops would not be sent to the region in a peacekeeping role.

"But we can help both sides. We can be facilitators, monitors evaluators of what's going on."

Palestinian Authority police forces on Monday took over security responsibility for the Gaza Strip's main highway.

Only one Israeli checkpoint remains, outside the isolated Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.

A bypass track was opened to allow Palestinian motorists to get around Kfar Darom without hindrance, Israeli officials say.

Caution

The BBC's David Chazan in Gaza says the pull-out has generated a lot of optimism, as many people on both sides are battle-weary.

However, our correspondent adds, the hopeful mood amongst Palestinians in Gaza is tinged with caution and even suspicion - they have seen many a peace plan come and go, only to be followed by a return to conflict.

Ali Zaaneen, a Palestinian whose farm near the northern town of Beit Hanoun was destroyed by Israeli troops, on Monday watched the arrival of the police convoy without excitement.

"The Israeli aggression has left no space in our heart for hope and joy," he told the Associated Press news agency.

"Now I am able to go every day to my farm, but I will find nothing to harvest and take to the market."