ISRAEL TO TURN OVER JERICHO AND ALLOW TERRORISTS TO RETURN FROM EXILE

Israel willing to allow some deportees back By HERB KEINON AND MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Israel would allow some 56 Palestinians deported to Gaza for involvement in terrorism to return to their West Bank homes under certain conditions and would discuss with the Palestinian Authority the fate of 13 others deported to Europe, a senior diplomatic official said Saturday night.

The official's comments came after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with the deportees Saturday in Gaza. Israeli security officials, however, said they opposed any plan to return the 13 men from Europe.

At a meeting Saturday night in Tel Aviv between Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and a Palestinian delegation that included Muhammad Dahlan, PA Minister Saeb Erekat and Palestinian cabinet secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh, it was decided that security control of Jericho would be handed over to the PA within days. On Sunday, IDF officers and their PA counterparts will meet to finalize the technicalities of the transfer of power.

Mofaz also permitted PA police from Nablus and Hebron to begin training in Jericho in preparation for when those cities will be transferred to the PA.