THE blue baize of the roulette tables is spotless. Poker slot machines flash enticingly. Only the Israeli gamblers are missing — but they will flock back to the ancient city of Jericho at the first opportunity.

The Oasis Casino in this West Bank city was one of the intifada’s first casualties when violence forced it to shut. However, with Jericho set to become the first city returned to Palestinian control today under the stuttering Sharm el-Sheikh peace plan, the hope is that the gaming venue could also be part of the revival.

It may take time. Palestinians are banned and the Israeli punters who spent £500,000 a month at the casino at its height four years ago are likely to remain barred from the city for some time for security reasons.

Even at the eleventh hour, there was renewed doubt yesterday that Jericho’s much-delayed handover would go ahead after Israel threatened to halt it amid suggestions that the Palestinians would release two senior figures jailed for ordering the 2001 assassination of an Israeli minister. After some confusion, Israeli security sources said that the transfer would proceed, but further moves might be suspended if the men were freed.

The uncertainty further tarnished the peace efforts as Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, arrived in Cairo last night for talks with militant factions that he expected to lead to an historic formal ceasefire to build on the tacit truce now in place.

Jericho, a city of 35,000 near the Dead Sea, was left reeling by the outbreak of the intifada. Unemployment hit 60 per cent as tourists and gamblers, who once numbered two million annually, melted away.

Despite early clashes, the sleepy oasis near Jesus’s baptismal site on the River Jordan remained largely quiet. For that reason it was chosen as the first city to be transferred to Palestinian security forces.

Last-minute wrangling delayed it for weeks. A dispute over whether the nearby village of Awja would be handed over was resolved after it was agreed that armed Palestinian police would patrol the area.

Now Jericho’s casino remains the great hope for an economic revival. The £55 million Austrian-Palestinian joint venture, just a 35-minute drive from Jerusalem, exploited regulations outlawing casinos in Israel. It also traded on the Israeli obsession for gaming.

“Israelis have a passion for gambling,” said Brett Anderson, the casino manager, a New Zealander who oversaw the 1998 opening. “The state of Israel is a gamble, so perhaps that’s why Israelis go at it with such intensity.”

The round-the-clock operation, with 285 slot machines and 124 gaming tables, attracted an average of 3,000 Israelis daily, with up to 6,000 playing on a big weekend.

It employed 1,600 Palestinians — the West Bank’s largest private employer — and more than 400 expatriates. Today a skeleton staff of just 50 keeps the mothballed casino ready for business. Yet already Mr Anderson has had Palestinian applicants for jobs that do not even exist.

“You have to be optimistic,” he said. “Things can change so quickly here.”

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