UK sending advance team to Mideast

Straw: "A significant first step"

LONDON, England -- Three Britons are due to travel to the West Bank as part of a U.S.-brokered deal to lift the Israeli siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters.

The trio are being sent in advance of "supervisory wardens" who will guard six Palestinian militants held by Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

The UK Foreign Office in London told CNN that the three are "experts in monitoring work" and include one Foreign Office official.

A spokesman said they will travel to the region on Monday as part of an agreement to end the month-long blockade of Arafat's Ramallah compound.

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The three will liaise with Israeli and Palestinian officials before up to 12 other Britons travel to the area as part of a deal put together by U.S. President George W. Bush.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement: "I welcome this significant first step away from violence and confrontation.

"We have been pushing forward this proposal for some time. I hope there will be no last-minute hitches as arrangements are now being made to put the supervisory wardens in place.

"Experts are travelling to the region, but this step is not enough. It is important now that the violence ends and the talking starts."

The Foreign Office spokesman said the British monitoring team, which will join similar U.S. personnel, will be made up of "unarmed civilians," including police and prison officers.

Straw said the three-strong advance team was travelling to the Middle East on Monday to ensure that conditions were safe for the deployment of the "supervisory wardens."

He stressed the importance of the personal security of the British wardens.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday, he said: "We wouldn't send people into this kind of situation if their own security was going to be significantly compromised.

"There is an advance party of three people going out today to check on the facilities and the arrangements.

"Obviously, the individuals' own protection is a very important part of this, but we have got a group of people who've done this kind of work in the past and we believe that we can play an important part here."

The Israeli cabinet agreed in a 17-9 vote to accept the Bush plan which was outlined by the president in a telephone call to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday.

It was then accepted by Arafat after a meeting with British and American officials in Ramallah.

The six Palestinians include five men accused of involvement in the killing last October of Israeli tourism minister Rehavem Ze'evi, and one man accused of organising a weapons shipment from Iran that was seized by Israel in the Red Sea in January.

They have already been arrested by the Palestinian Authority and are currently being held in Arafat's offices. Four of the men were convicted of Ze'evi's killing by a court set up within the compound last week and received sentences ranging from one to 18 years.