AL QUDS, Aug 25: The Israeli government ruled out any imminent pullback from Al Khalil on Sunday, bowing to pressure from the military establishment and further jeopardizing a plan for a phased troop withdrawal, as the army continued its sweep in the West Bank.

“The army can only pull out of this area once it has received guarantees that calm will be maintained” by the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer told army radio on Sunday.

“It still isn’t the case in Al Khalil,” he said, freezing a fledgling security plan for a pullout from reoccupied areas in exchange for a Palestinian crackdown on militants.

The August 18 understanding, aimed at quelling 23 months of violence which have left more than 2,400 dead, started with a redeployment around Bethlehem, but Ben Eliezer apparently bowed to pressure from top brass not to extend the plan to Al Khalil before the end of the Jewish holidays a month from now.

Israeli media had reported a major split between the defence minister and the military establishment on the issue, prompting the army to issue a rare public denial on Saturday.

“All efforts to create tension (between the army and minister) are a waste of time and do not correspond with the reality,” the army said in a statement.

Adding to the confusion, Ben Eliezer issued a statement on Sunday, saying “negotiations were to continue with the Palestinians” over the phased withdrawal plan he agreed with Palestinian interior minister Abdel Razaq al-Yahya a week ago.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s top adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said Israel’s latest move was a “dangerous step which will lead to more violence.”

He called on members of the quartet of diplomatic powers seeking peace in the Middle East to “intervene immediately for an Israeli pullout from reoccupied areas and prevent the failure of an international effort to save the peace process.”

For his part, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat argued Israel’s freezing of the security plan would hamper the reforms pledged by Arafat under pressure from Israel and the United States.

“The Palestinian Authority cannot take its responsibilities at the civilian, economic and security levels, without an Israeli withdrawal from reoccupied areas,” he said.—AFP