Israel and the Palestinians agreed Tuesday to observe a ceasefire following five days of deadly clashes.
"An agreement has been reached with the Israeli side for a total ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces to their former positions," a senior Palestinian security source told AFP.
A senior Israeli army officer confirmed the agreement.
"I confirm that we have received an order to cease fire and I hope the Palestinians will respect it," the officer, identified only as Colonel Aviv due to Israeli military censorship rules, told Israel radio.
General Gal Hirsch, an army commander in the West Bank, also confirmed that Israeli forces were pulling back across the territories.
"This morning I took most of my forces back about hundreds of meters and right now we are entering vehicles to take all the equipment from this zone," he told CNN television from an area near the West Bank town of Ramallah that had been the scene of street battles and gunfights.
"It is happening all around the West Bank, all my colleagues in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) are doing the same in order to try to prevent friction and in order to try not to go again into battle," he said.
Most of the Palestinian territories, turned into virtual war zones as fierce battles raged, were calm on Tuesday morning although in the divided West Bank city of Hebron witnesses said Israel soldiers had fired on young Palestinians throwing stones and burning tyres near the Jewish enclaves.
Rock-throwing incidents were also reported on the outskirts of occupied east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that under the ceasefire, Israel would also remove all extra military equipment it had brought into the territories since violence flared late last week.
"Under the accord, the Palestinian side will take responsibility for dealing with any security cases that might arise after the Israeli withdrawal," he said.
An army spokesman had earlier denied that there was a ceasefire in force, although the contradicting statements appeared to stem from the military's reluctance to use the term.
"We are holding meetings every day and every night with the Palestinians. But it's not a matter of ceasefire. When they stop attacking us, we will stop defending ourselves," spokesman Yarden Vatikay told AFP.
The unrest, the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian clashes in four years, erupted Thursday after Israeli right-wing hard-liner Ariel Sharon visited the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, a disputed holy site at the heart of the Middle East conflict.
The violence has left 44 Palestinians, nine Arab Israelis and three Israelis dead.
Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami for his part said, "There is information that Yasser Arafat has given orders for calm to be restored, but the orders have apparently not yet reached Palestinian activist groups like the 'Tanzim'," he said, referring to a youth branch of Arafat's Fatah movement.
"I am not privy to political agreements between Arafat and Barak, but I think there is a good chance that the peace talks will resume," he said – GAZA CITY (AFP)
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