Israeli and Palestinian officials are set to sign agreements on Sunday to
facilitate holding Palestinian presidential elections in the West Bank, Gaza
Strip and East Jerusalem, official Palestinian sources said Saturday.
The sources said that Israel had promised to ease restrictions for the
Palestinians to participate in the Jan. 9 elections.
Under the agreements the two sides reached in meetings last week, the Israeli
army would carry out a gradual withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian
territories for the elections to go smoothly, sources said.
They agreed to set up two joint liaison offices at Erez Crossingon the
borders between northern Gaza Strip and Israel, and a third at Beit Eil in the
West Bank.
Palestinian police and Israeli army officers will be staying at these offices
to solve immediately any problem that could emerge.
They also agreed that Palestinian residents in east Jerusalem would be voting
at the post offices as they did in the last elections held in 1996.