Israel to let Abbas deploy loyalist brigade in Gaza

JERUSALEM, Nov 28 (Reuters) Israel has agreed in principle to let Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas send a security force loyal to him into Gaza to help police a truce, an Israeli diplomatic source said today.

The request to redeploy the 1,000-strong Jordan-based Badr Brigade, the source said, came from Abbas, whose declaration with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday of a ceasefire in the tinderbox territory has stirred hopes of peace talks.

''Basically, we have agreed, though it has not yet been officially released,'' the source said. ''The request came through before the ceasefire, but certainly this could boost the truce.'' A senior Abbas aide said full agreement was not yet secured.

''We have asked, but we await the official and full details of the Israeli response,'' negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

The United States, trying to salvage a tattered ''road map'' to peace, has said it supports letting the brigade into Gaza or the occupied West Bank to reinforce forces loyal to Abbas.

The brigade's paramilitary police mostly hail from Abbas's Fatah faction, trounced by Hamas Islamists in elections in January. The rival groups have since clashed on whether and how to engage Israel.

The Israeli diplomatic source gave no date for the Badr Brigade's planned deployment in Gaza, which Israel quit in 2005 after 38 years of occupation. A source close to the deliberations said: ''It is likely to take some time''.

Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator in the region, told an Israeli newspaper last week that the idea of redeploying the Badr Brigade ''makes sense both from the military as well as from the political point of view''.

Olmert and Abbas are under growing US pressure to show progress on ending decades of conflict. President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are to visit the region on Wednesday and may address the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

Rice will meet Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Erekat said. A spokeswoman for Olmert said he had no talks planned with Rice, who will be attending a conference in Jordan.

''The prime minister met with the secretary of state and the (US) president two weeks ago (in Washington) ... and there are no plans for an additional meeting,'' said the spokeswoman.

More Reuters SSC VV1745