WASHINGTON, March 18: The United States on Monday kept up pressure on Israel for a full withdrawal of its troops from the Palestinian territories as US-brokered ceasefire talks appeared to progress.

“This is an issue that we’ve continued to work on,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

“We continue to expect a complete withdrawal from all remaining Palestinian controlled areas that Israeli defence forces entered in recent weeks,” he said while talking to reporters.

Earlier, after security talks between the two sides chaired by US special Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni, the Israeli defence ministry announced it would relinquish control of autonomous Palestinian areas on the West Bank on Monday night.

Israel “will tonight hand back to the Palestinians security responsibility as part of the army’s withdrawal process from the territories”, the ministry said in a statement.

But it remained unclear exactly when the troops would physically leave and Israeli military officials said they still had units around the West Bank towns of Bethlehem, which troops re-entered on Sunday, Beit Jala, Jenin and Nablus.

Boucher called the security meeting “positive, constructive, and professional” and said both Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to resume the talks on Wednesday.—AFP