GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The planned deployment of Palestinian forces on the Gaza-Israel frontier could be a first step toward a wider return of Palestinians' security control in their areas of Gaza and the West Bank - the situation before fighting broke out with Israel in 2000, the Palestinian foreign minister said Thursday.
Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath made the assessment after Israel and the Palestinians resumed security coordination, agreeing on a Palestinian plan aimed at preventing rocket from Gaza into Israel.
Palestinian officials said about 1,000 police would be positioned, starting Friday, in the areas of northern Gaza where militants have fired dozens of rockets at Israeli communities just beyond the fence. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz approved the deployment.
However, sporadic violence persisted - two 13-year-old Palestinians were killed in separate clashes with the Israeli military.
Maj. Gen. Moussa Arafat, a Palestinian security chief, outlined the deployment to The Associated Press. "In the first stage, it will be in the north, and then we will move into the south," he said. Arafat presented the plan to his Israeli counterpart in a late-night meeting on Wednesday, signaling renewal of security cooperation.
The prospect of Palestinian police taking action to rein in militants quelled calls in Israel for immediate military action to stop the rocket fire.
A period of calm could lead to peace negotiations, starting with coordination of Israel's planned pullout from Gaza in the summer _ but renewed violence would likely trigger an Israeli military offensive, already approved by Israeli leaders.
Greeting Gaza worshippers after morning prayers for the Feast of the Sacrifice holiday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said, "We believe in peace, and we believe in negotiations, and we want to reach peace through negotiations."
Abbas also met Thursday with his security chiefs to work out the final details of the plan to prevent rocket fire and other attacks on Israeli towns.
The deployment agreement could be the "beginning of the process of trying to coordinate so that Palestinian Authority can redeploy its forces in all Palestinian areas, at least in Gaza, and then in the West Bank," Shaath said.
Such a redeployment could restore the situation that preceded the outbreak of fighting in September 2000. In its response to the violence, Israel sent troops into the West Bank and Gaza, retaking areas handed over to the Palestinians under interim peace deals.
Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon praised the Palestinian leadership. "Today we are witness to the beginning of positive developments on the Palestinian side, which are an expression of the understanding that terrorism does not pay," he said at a memorial ceremony for 22 victims of a double bombing in 1995.
In further signs of easing tensions, the army reopened the Gaza checkpoint targeted in a suicide bombing on Tuesday. Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border would be opened to incoming traffic on Friday. The crossing has been closed since a Dec. 12 attack on the Israeli military post there killed five soldiers.
Despite the diplomatic progress, violent incidents continued.
Israeli troops shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who fired a homemade rifle at them near the West Bank village of Tubas, Palestinian witnesses said. The army said a large crowd of people gathered, and they were beginning to riot when troops spotted what appeared to be a gunman in the crowd and opened fire.
Also, troops shot and killed a 13-year-old boy in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza, hospital officials said. The military said soldiers fired at two suspicious Palestinians crawling in a no-go zone.
