The Israeli army has begun implementing the ceasefire agreement with the Palestinians, Israel’s defence minister said today.
"The army has started redeployment in the Palestinian territories, and some road blocks have been removed," Mr Binyamin Ben Eliezer said.
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"If the Palestinians fulfil all their commitments, in particular by stopping mortar fire, we will ease things further.
"We can tell the difference between a deliberate provocation and a stray bullet . . . Israel is doing all it can to assist in the implementation of the Tenet accord so that the ceasefire can be effective," he said.
Mr Eliezer said the Mitchell report, which sparked CIA chief Mr George Tenet's mission, recommended a number of steps for putting the peace process back on track - "the first of which is the most critical, being the immediate and unconditional end to violence."
Mr Mitchell's other recommendations include a total freeze on Jewish settlement building in the occupied territories and the reopening of talks aimed at a political settlement.
A military source said earlier that three mortar bombs were launched at the Jewish settlement of Rafah Yam in the Gaza Strip and that the Netzarim settlement near Gaza City came under automatic weapon fire.
There were no casualties from either incident, the source said.
AFP