Israel Proposes a Partial Withdrawal From West Bank
Israel has proposed withdrawing troops from some Palestinian areas in the West Bank to test the ability of Palestinian security to prevent attacks on civilians, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday.

``We have no interest in staying in those places where the Palestinians can prove that they can take control,'' Peres told Israel Radio. The proposal was made at Israeli-Palestinian talks Saturday night as part of an effort to find ways of easing the tough restrictions placed on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Palestinians say their security forces can't re-establish control until after the Israeli forces pull out. Many Palestinian security force buildings have been damaged or destroyed in Israeli attacks.

``The key to breaking the circle of violence begins with the Israeli withdrawal from all the Palestinian cities,'' said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Meanwhile, a bomb attack on a train injured the engineer as it was traveling south of Tel Aviv, in Yavneh, on Sunday morning.

The explosion went off on the tracks and damaged the engine of the passenger train, police said. The engineer was injured in the abdomen by the force of the blast, but the train was not derailed, police said.

The remote-control bomb weighed about 11 pounds, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but police said they believed Palestinian militants were responsible.
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