Israel weighs plan to ease security grip in WBank

JERUSALEM, July 14 (Reuters) Israel is considering a plan to stop hunting scores of Fatah militants and give Palestinians wider security control over West Bank enclaves to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas, officials and diplomats said today.

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said talks were still underway on the security arrangements, part of which would ''end the hunt for these people which the Israelis deem as wanted''.

Leaders of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Abbas's secular Fatah faction, said they were informed by Abbas's security forces that Israel was prepared to give reprieves to nearly 180 militants in the occupied West Bank if they agreed not to carry out attacks against Israelis.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office had no immediate comment on the talks, but a government official familiar with the deliberations said: ''This is something we're considering.'' An Israeli government official said Olmert planned to meet with Abbas on Monday. Erekat said the leaders would meet in the coming days but he did not provide a specific date.

Salam Fayyad, whom Abbas appointed prime minister after he dismissed a Hamas-led cabinet last month, has pledged to crack down on militants in the West Bank but said success hinged on Israel agreeing to stop pursuing the gunmen.

Palestinian security forces, dominated by Fatah, have been pursuing Hamas militants in the West Bank since Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip a month ago. Officials said the goal was to prevent Hamas from building up its West Bank forces.

Israel wants to isolate Hamas in the Gaza Strip while allowing funds and goods to flow to Abbas and Fayyad's government in the West Bank.

Western diplomats said the security proposal called for Israel to give Abbas's forces greater security control over some Palestinian population centres. Abbas has asked Israel to allow the so-called Badr Brigade, a Fatah force based in Jordan, to enter into the West Bank to help bolster security.

Israel's security establishment has resisted similar plans in the past, arguing troops need the freedom to pursue militants, including members of al-Aqsa, to prevent attacks on Israelis.

The Badr proposal has also run into opposition from Israeli security officials.

Al-Aqsa spokesman Monif al-Rimawi said the reprieves would be given to the militants so long as they signed commitments not to attack Israeli forces or civilians. Israel would review the reprieves after three months.

Ala Sanakreh, one of the wanted al-Aqsa members in the Nablus area, said: ''We trust our leadership and we agreed to it. This is a good opportunity.'' An al-Aqsa source said the group wanted to expand the current list of 180 wanted militants to include at least 90 additional names.

Western diplomats said Israel would not halt operations targeting members of Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

Olmert has yet to remove major West Bank checkpoints and roadblocks to help Abbas's administration, but has started to hand over in stages hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen tax funds and has agreed to free 250 Fatah prisoners.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been expected next week to visit the region for talks with Abbas and Olmert but the trip was postponed.

REUTERS CS KP1848