Last update - 00:00 17/10/2007
PA official: Palestinian security to deploy more troops in Nablus
By DPA
Palestinian security officials plan to deploy at least 500 new troops in Nablus as part of an overall Palestinian security plan for the West Bank,
acting Minister of Information and government spokesman Riad Malki said Wednesday.
The fresh troops, who received training in Jericho, are intended to boost security in the northern West Bank city and put an end to lawlessness and chaos there, he told a news conference in Ramallah.
"For us, enforcing security in Nablus is a challenge," Malki said. "If we succeed in Nablus, then we can succeed in other cities and if we fail in Nablus we will fail elsewhere. This is why we choose Nablus to deploy this force first."
He said security coordination between Palestinians and Israelis has resumed, and "this has allowed us to reach towns and places we couldn't reach before."
"The goal," he said, "is to resume security control over these areas and return the situation to the way it was before September 2000," when the uprising against Israel broke out.
Deploying these forces in the Palestinian cities, said Malki, allows "quick intervention and control to enforce law and order and regain confidence in the authority, particularly in Nablus. Regaining confidence in the authority is the magic word we are looking for."
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