English/Nat
Israel has begun withdrawing its troops from part of the West Bank.
The withdrawal from six point one percent of the West Bank is part of a land-for-security deal that would give Palestinians control over 41 percent of the West Bank.
The land gives the Palestinians areas of land that border cities already under significant Palestinian control.
The withdrawal came just hours after two shootings Monday night in the West Bank killed a Palestinian woman and injured her husband and three Israelis.
Palestinian police drove into a newly transferred town near the West Bank city of Ramallah in open jeeps on Tuesday, firing their rifles in celebration.
Israeli army officers shook hands with Palestinian security officers and handed them five copies of the maps outlining the area being transferred.
Soldiers placed yellow and brown blocks marking the new boundary.
Then, Palestinian and Israeli security officials toured the area in jeeps, inspecting the new boundaries.
Similar ceremonies were to take place later in the day near the West Bank cities of Hebron and Nablus.
Beitunia residents set off firecrackers, honked car horns and waved to the police.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"We are currently implementing the first part of the Sharm agreement. This will hand over full control of Beitunia to Palestinian authority.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Colonel Galhirsh, Israeli Army Officer
The latest transfer of land gives the Palestinians populated swaths of land abutting cities already under Palestinian control, creating the territorial continuity Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat needs for future statehood.
It completes a three-part phase in a series of land transfers under interim peace accords, which call for one more transfer of territory.
Israel had wanted to fold that transfer into arrangements for a final peace treaty, but the Palestinians refused.
The sides reached a compromise in which they committed to reaching a framework for a final peace treaty in May, with the final interim transfer in June.
Negotiators are to resume talks over the framework agreement outside Washington later on Tuesday, with the goal of signing the treaty itself in September.
