The report said Dahlan received money from the US and British governments and from the European Union to fund the programme.

But two senior West Bank officials belonging to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement told AFP they knew nothing of the proposal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the two officials said they knew Dahlan was conducting talks with various Palestinian groups, but had not heard anything more than that.

But citing sources in the Gaza Strip, Israeli radio said Dahlan was likely to reach an agreement about illegal weapons with Fatah splinter group the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the next few days.

The radio quoted a senior figure in the Brigades as saying Dahlan was paying twice the price for such a weapon on the black market.

Dahlan was also proposing to give six thousand dollars to every brigade member who would agree to leave the organisation and join the Palestinian security forces, the radio said.

At the peace summit in Aqaba, Jordan on Wednesday, Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas committed himself to ridding the Palestinian territories of illegal weapons as a first step towards implementing the Mideast peace roadmap.

"We emphasize our determination to implement the pledge we made to our people and the international community: the rule of law, a single political authority, weapons only in the hands of those charged with upholding law and order, and political diversity within the framework of democracy," Abbas said.

WAR.WIRE