Palestinian security organizations loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have transferred information on terrorist plots in the West Bank to Israel, Israeli security sources said. The information served Israeli security services in countering plans to carry out terrorist attacks.

However, Israeli security sources emphasized that the Shin Bet does not rely exclusively on Palestinian security organizations for intelligence, and recognizes the limited nature of this information.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority have resumed limited security cooperation in recent weeks, considered to be the most significant exchanges of this type in the past six years.

	Advertisement

Palestinian security sources also confirmed that limited coordination has been resumed with Israel. However, they complained that Israel is not interested in full and extensive security cooperation and charged that senior IDF officers are trying to avoid meetings with their Palestinian counterparts.

A serious gap in expectations is also apparent in the Palestinian request for the transfer of some West Bank cities to the control of PA security organizations, Palestinian sources said.

The PA is unwilling to only accept control over Jericho, as Israel is offering, because it does not consider this to be a sufficiently significant gesture. Israel refuses to hand over control of Qalqilyah, a city on the Green Line where Hamas is believed to continue to have a considerable presence. Several months ago, a Hamas cell smuggled a large truck bomb into Israel.

So far, the IDF has insisted that it continue to enjoy freedom to operate throughout the West Bank to prevent any Palestinian attempts to plan terrorist attacks.

In addition to permitting the transfer of 1,000 rifles to the forces loyal to Abbas from Jordan three weeks ago, Israeli sources said that last week, several thousand more weapons were delivered to the PA's security forces from Jordan.

They also pointed out that immunity granted to 178 Fatah militants came about after a request by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad during a meeting with the chief of the Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin.

The sources noted that while Israel recognizes that Fayad would like to extend the immunity to all the Fatah fugitives, which will help him strengthen his position in the eyes of the Palestinian people, there is still no decision on the matter.

According to Palestinian sources, there are still many Fatah fugitives who refuse to join the immunity pact because their colleagues are not included in the agreement. Many of the fugitives are from Nablus, whose old city has been a center of militant activity.

In parallel to security cooperation between Israel and the PA, tensions between Fatah and Hamas are intensifying.

Following warnings by Hamas that they would take action against Fatah if the persecution of the Islamist organization continues in the West Bank, PA security forces deployed dozens of roadblocks in Ramallah Thursday.

The Abbas loyalists are concerned that Hamas cells may try to assassinate Fatah leaders or carry out terrorist attacks against PA targets in the city.

In one instance Thursday, Preventive Security officers announced that they had uncovered a Hamas weapons cache in Tul Karm.

In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, reprisals have been stepped up against Fatah activists out of concern that they may be able to restore some of their military capabilities there.

Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy to the Middle East, Michael Williams, said Wednesday that the international body considers the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to be an inalienable part of the Palestinian entity.