TEL AVIV, Aug 24: An Israeli-Palestinian arrangement to ease Israel’s military clampdown on Palestinian areas stalled on Saturday with violence in the Gaza Strip and the failure of joint security talks on a new Israeli pullout.

Israel pulled troops out of the West Bank city of Bethlehem early this week under a security deal which also called for lifting restrictions on Palestinian travel in Gaza in return for Palestinian security forces curbing violence in those areas.

But no such measures were seen in Gaza and a new round of talks failed to produce agreement on an Israeli withdrawal from Al Khalil, one of six West Bank cities that remain under a military reoccupation launched after suicide bombings in Israel in June.

“Israel has frozen the agreement,” Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, told Reuters on Saturday. “The Israeli side has no intention to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza. Therefore there won’t be any progress.”

The so-called “Gaza-Bethlehem First” plan has been viewed as a trial case for a wider ceasefire to end 22 months of bloodshed since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in Sept 2000 after peace talks froze.

A senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem said a rash of shootings and an attempted attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza had halted further progress in easing military blockades there.

“The Palestinians didn’t do their part. It’s all one package and the next step depends on Gaza,” the source said.—Reuters