After credibility is re-established on previously agreed troop pullbacks and tank destruction, remove the non-starters stopping Start.

By mid-July, this shift of responsibilities and troop pullback are to extend to the rest of the West Bank, accompanied by Palestinian elections for a council to run their own government.

The blueprint calls for a truce, Israeli troop pullbacks to positions held before the violence began, and establishment of a provisional Palestinian state as a prelude to negotiations of a final peace agreement.

Critics of Syria's role were wary, particularly over how significant any troop pullback would be and whether it would do anything to resolve other deep entanglements in Lebanon.

Similar confidence flowed from top Pentagon figures, who appeared on the Sunday morning television news shows in the United States a few hours after the troop pullback was completed.

The plan calls for Palestinian reforms and Israeli troop pullbacks, and it envisions a provisional Palestinian state by the end of next year.

That panel is presumably to discuss what security measures - troop pullbacks, early warning systems and similar steps - would compensate Israel for the loss of the Golan Heights buffer zone.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was quoted as saying that an Israeli troop pullback in the West Bank could leave Israel facing "cardinal" security problems.

Security arrangements and the specifics of Israel's troop pullback under the terms of the accord signed on Sept. 13 are still the main sticking points.

Flexibility on Troops Mr. Shaath said Sunday that the decision to resume negotiations came after Israel indicated it was willing to be more flexible on troop pullbacks.