"We have to act prudently and for the moment there is no reason to change our policy, since we are still a long way from having a Palestinian government able to reduce the violence," Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim told army radio.

"In the past our efforts have been let down, which is why we should not hurry and act with a stopwatch in our hand under such and such a pressure," Boim said.

Palestinians, who last week saw their leader Yasser Arafat yield to vast international pressure and appoint key ministers proposed by the moderate Abbas, have called for Israel to respond to the key reforms and pull back from land reoccupied last year.

But Abbas's cabinet has yet to be sworn in, and he faces an uphill struggle controlling militant groups that Arafat is accused by Israel and Washington of allowing free rein to attack Israel during 31 months of fighting.

Army radio said that top army officials wanted a detailed plan of the Palestinians' proposed "fight against terrorism" before giving any order to evacuate the major towns across the West Bank which it reoccupied last June after relentless Palestinian suicide bombings.

"There can be no free gestures from Israel," a senior defence ministery official told the radio.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his part opened talks Sunday with Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz on which gestures Israel could agree to before Abbas and his ministers are sworn in on Tuesday.

They will also examine steps to be taken before US Secretary of State Colin Powell visits the region, a trip expected some time this week.

Powell is to leave Thursday for Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, US officials said Friday.

The two Israeli right-wingers were also to discuss the official presentation of an internationally drafted roadmap for peace, which would create a Palestinian state by the end of 2005. Israel fears the staged plan will give the Palestinians a state without it fully renouncing violence.

The head of Israeli military intelligence, General Aharon Zeevi, said Friday that after Abbas's nomination "there is room for optimism, even if we have to be careful and aware of the dangers."

He listed among those dangers that Abbas, who advocates a susepnsion of anti-Israeli attacks, could impose a ceasefire while militant groups such as Hamas are running out of steam, but without dismantling them and giving them the chance to renew their strikes in six months.

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