The Palestinian Authority security forces are foiling just as many attacks as Israel, the head of the research division of Israeli Army intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, told members of a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Late Monday, Israel handed over security responsibility for the the West Bank town of Tulkarem to the PA. Last week, the Palestinian Authority assumed security control in Jericho. Talks on the handover of a third West Bank city, presumably Qalqilyah, are expected to start in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Al Zahhar, a senior Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip, has warned Israel of any attempt to swindle over the truce's conditions set by the Palestinian factions, topped by the release of all Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails.

In a televised interview on Palestinian TV, the first of its kind, Zahhar said that the truce was merely a step towards the complete liberation of the Palestinian soil, “and we are willing to establish our independent state on any liberated piece of land of occupied Palestine”.

© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)