The joint Israeli-Palestinian committee for coordinating Israel's forthcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is to meet for the first time, Israel army and public radios have reported.

Israel's Deputy Chief-of-Staff Moshe Kaplinsky will meet Palestinian Deputy Interior Minister Jamal Abu Zeid on Tuesday morning to discuss the implementation of the plan to withdraw all Israeli troops and more than 8000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

The two men will also discuss the expected firing by Palestinian fighters at Israeli forces carrying out the evacuation, army radio said, without specifying where the talks would be held.

Members of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service are to attend the meeting.

The schedule of meetings between the two sides was laid out last week at top-level talks between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yussuf, public radio added.

Closure ended

The Israeli army lifted the closure imposed on the occupied Palestinian territories for the daylong Jewish festival of Shavuot, which ended at sundown on Monday.

The army also said that during the holiday, Palestinian fighters fired three mortar shells and a makeshift Qassam rocket at Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip. No one was injured and no damage was caused, a spokesman said.

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