Last update - 00:00 13/08/2007
PA forces resume police control over Area B in the West Bank
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
The Palestinian police recently resumed its law-enforcement activities in Area B of the West Bank, where the Israel Defense Forces is responsible for security.
The renewed police patrols, whose focus is on countering criminal activity and ensuring law and order, are being carried out in coordination with Israeli security elements.
According to the Oslo Accords, Israel has security control of territory in Area B, which includes many villages and towns in the West Bank, but the Palestinians are responsible for civilian law-enforcement activities.
In Area A of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority was granted - also in the Oslo agreements - full security control, both in terms of military and police activities. However, since Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, Israel has assumed security control over Area A, on a nearly continuous basis.
Nevertheless, in the last four years the IDF has frequently allowed Palestinian policemen to carry weapons and do their work to ensure law and order in Area A. Only in cases when IDF forces entered the West Bank cities have the Palestinian police returned to their headquarters to avoid any possibility of confrontation with the army.
Since Hamas won the parliamentary elections in the PA in January 2006, the Palestinian police had barely been seen outside Area A.
In recent weeks, however, as part of efforts to advance the diplomatic process between Israel and the PA in the West Bank, under the leadership of chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the IDF has agreed to allow Palestinian policemen to resume their routine law-enforcement activities in Area B.
In some cases, the Palestinian police have also taken action against Hamas activists.
The police force is focusing on dealing with criminal activities such as the trade in stolen cars, drug use and violent clashes between rival clans.
In some rare cases, the IDF has also allowed Palestinian elements dealing with security-related activities - such as the Preventive Security, the National Security, and the General Intelligence forces - to operate in Area B.
Another sign of improved coordination and cooperation with the IDF is the fact that the Palestinians have been allowed to move their various forces freely from one area of the West Bank to another, mostly for specific operations or in the event of emergencies, as in cases where there is violence between clans.
At IDF Central Command, sources say that it is best if the Palestinians deal with internal law-enforcement issues, which leaves the IDF free to deal with security problems.
The former commander of IDF forces in the West Bank, Brigadier General Yair Golan, agreed to make it easier for Palestinian police to operate, with the understanding that if they contained criminality and internal clashes, the area would also be safer for Israelis.
Since Golan made the decision to expand cooperation with the Palestinian police, the time required for coordinating operations between the Palestinians and the IDF has been considerably diminished. Prior to each operation beyond the area under PA control, the Palestinian police informs the IDF about the purpose of the operation, the specific area in which the officers will operate and the number of vehicles that will take part, including their license-plate numbers. Also information concerning the number of policemen involved and the weapons they will carry is also sent to the IDF as part of the coordination of operations.
Brigadier Golan and the head of the Palestinian National Security organization in the West Bank, Abu al-Fatah, met on a number of occasions to finalize the nature of the cooperation. A similar meeting is scheduled to take place between Al-Fatah and Golan's successor, Noam Tivon.