Israel's handover of the West Bank city of Tulkarem might be delayed due to a dispute between Israeli and Palestinian officers over arrangements for the pullout, Palestinian officials said. Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the handover would take place today, but a meeting between military officers from both sides to finalise details of the pullout hit a snag over transfer of control of villages near Tulkarem.

"We are dealing with it now, but I hope that things will be resolved soon," said Said Abu Fasha, the commander of the Palestinian security forces in Tulkarem.

He said the reason for the dispute was Israel's refusal to give Palestinian forces security control of several villages near Tulkarem which were under their jurisdiction before a Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.

Military commanders from both sides would ask political leaders to resolve the dispute, he said.

Mofaz said at an army base earlier: "We expect to transfer Tulkarem to Palestinian responsibility today."

He said the city of Qalqilya would be next, but gave no date for that pullback.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian man was seriously wounded by Israeli border police near the main road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israeli military sources said.

The man, among a group of Palestinians trying to infiltrate Israel, tried to grab the weapon of one Israeli guard, provoking another security officer to open fire in his direction, the sources added.

Earlier, Palestinian gunmen shot and wounded three Israeli soldiers and a policeman while soldiers wounded a Palestinian in a separate West Bank shooting, the Israeli military said.

The shootings disrupted the calm of a ceasefire declared by both sides last month and a conditional truce agreed by most Palestinian militants at a meeting in Cairo last week.

The Israeli military said troops were ambushed as they escorted policemen searching for stolen cars in a refugee camp south of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Three soldiers and a policeman were wounded, one seriously, a statement said.

In other developments, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has given the green light for the construction of more than 3,500 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, public radio said.

PHOTO CAPTION

The head of Palestinian security forces in the West Bank town of Tulkarem Said Abu Pasha, left, speaks to reporters as he and Palestinian police officer Zohair Abu Fateh, right, arrive at the District Coordination Office in the West Bank town of Tulkarem for a meeting with Israeli officials Sunday, March 20, 2005. (AP)