Around the World Israel, Palestinians end land dispute JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinians agreed yesterday on the transfer of more West Bank land to Palestinian control, resolving a seven-week dispute and putting their negotiations on a final peace accord back on track, officials said. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the deal and said the hand-over to the Palestinians of an additional 5 percent of West Bank land will begin today and be completed by Thursday. The agreement also appeared likely to ease Palestinian concerns that the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak was halting progress on Palestinian peace talks while it conducts intensive negotiations with Syria that are now under way near Washington. "This is a parallel track to the Syrian track," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said after yesterday's announcement. "It's not a competitive track." The two sides also confirmed that another Israeli troop withdrawal, from slightly more than 6 percent of the West Bank, will take place as planned Jan. 20, the same day that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is due to hold talks with President Clinton at the White House. The transfers will fulfill commitments that the two sides made in September and mean that Arafat, at month's end, will have full or partial control over about 40 percent of the West Bank. The resolution of the dispute also is expected to allow negotiators to make progress toward their goal of reaching a framework peace agreement by mid-February. Arafat and Barak have said they will try by then to come up with a blueprint for a comprehensive peace treaty that is intended to resolve all outstanding issues and put an end to the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The two sides have set an ambitious timetable for that agreement, saying they hope to reach it by Sept. 13. Among the topics still to be dealt with, however, are those at the very heart of their years of struggle: the issues of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, track." The two sides also confirmed that another Israeli troop withdrawal, from slightly more than 6 percent of the West Bank, will take place as planned Jan. 20, the same day that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat is due to hold talks with President Clinton at the White House. The transfers will fulfill commitments that the two sides made in September and mean that Arafat, at month's end, will have full or partial control over about 40 percent of the West Bank. The resolution of the dispute also is expected to allow negotiators to make progress toward their goal of reaching a framework peace agreement by mid-February. Arafat and Barak have said they will try by then to come up with a blueprint for a comprehensive peace treaty that is intended to resolve all outstanding issues and put an end to the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The two sides have set an ambitious timetable for that agreement, saying they hope to reach it by Sept. 13. Among the topics still to be dealt with, however, are those at the very heart of their years of struggle: the issues of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Yeltsin warned Putin of resignation MOSCOW - About 10 days before the New Year, President Boris Yeltsin interrupted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a routine meeting and said he intended to resign to give Putin a political head start in the election campaign, Putin recalled yesterday. Yeltsin's decision to leave office, Putin added, was a difficult one for the 68-year-old president, who had spent nearly a decade at the highest levels of power. Originally on page 2A in the 1-5-2000 issue of the Daily.