August 19, 2002	Monday	Jamadi-us-Saani 9, 1423

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JERUSALEM, Aug 18: Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met a senior Palestinian delegation on Sunday after saying a troop withdrawal plan for the Gaza Strip should be extended to West Bank areas.

The evening talks at a Tel Aviv hotel were the first since Aug 7, when top security officials on both sides had failed to agree on Ben-Eliezer’s plan to ease a military clampdown in Gaza as a test case before expanding it to the West Bank.

Palestinian security officials had demanded at least one West Bank city be included in the pilot plan, intended as a first step towards a ceasefire in more than 22 months of violence. In a turnaround on Sunday, Ben-Eliezer said he was willing to consider expanding what he calls the ‘Gaza first’ proposal to West Bank cities. “I think the issue of ‘Gaza-first’, which I initiated, will include not only Gaza, but also other places,” Ben-Eliezer said.—Reuters