Israel is expected in the coming days to transfer control of four West Bank cities to Palestinian security forces, a move that would broaden a truce in Gaza and build on a tentative calm prior to the much anticipated summit between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas scheduled for next week.

Not since the unveiling of the US-backed road map peace plan a year and a half ago have there been so many signs of progress toward halting the Israeli-Palestinian violence that began in September 2000. The new US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is scheduled to visit the region Sunday to meet with both sides in an effort to consolidate the gains.

But observers caution that in order to transform the fragile calm into a durable cease-fire, Mr. Sharon and Mr. Abbas still must reach an understanding on a host of prickly matters such as prisoner releases, disarming militants, and lifting travel restrictions on Palestinians. That could provide both leaders with enough political capital to face down domestic opposition.

"There are remarkable achievements until now compared to two years ago, but the golden path still remains to be discovered," says Guy Bechor, a Middle East expert at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.

Over the weekend, Israel's military said it would stop all proactive operations in Gaza after some 3,000 Palestinian police officers were deployed there to prevent rocket fire into Israel. The deployment helped lay the groundwork for the meeting on a West Bank pullback between Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and former Palestinian security chief Mohamad Dahlan.

For the first time since 2002, security authority for the cities of Ramallah, Jericho, Tulkarm, and Qalqilya will be restored to Palestinian police. Though the withdrawal will give Abbas a chance to establish law and order in the West Bank, critics note that the pullback is only symbolic because Israel's military is largely absent from the city centers except for occasional incursions.

"Theoretically, things are going well. In the reality of implementation, we still have to wait,'' says Palestinian cabinet minister Kadoura Fares. The withdrawal "might be good pictures for the media, but it won't lighten the daily burden of the Palestinians. I don't think that that is something that worries the Palestinian people more than the checkpoints."

Another test of the fledgling Israeli-Palestinian calm will be talks on freeing thousands of prisoners. Palestinian officials have echoed demands by militant Hamas that Israel release some 8,000 detainees, while Israel has signaled that the number will be in the hundreds.

The Israeli concessions would give Abbas leverage in negotiations with Hamas on formalizing a two-week cessation of attacks. Sharon was criticized for not making enough gestures to the Palestinians during a three-month cease-fire in 2003, a failed experiment that led to Abbas's resignation from as Palestinian prime minister. But Sharon is also expected to put pressure on Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, to start disarming militant groups.

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