RAMALLAH: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the deployment of around 900 Palestinian police officers in West Bank city of Bethlehem to assume security responsibilities in the city to maintain order during Christmas celebrations, Israeli and Palestinian sources said yesterday.
Israeli defense officials said that this would be another goodwill gesture toward the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its President, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot quoted Barak saying during a security meeting that the overall responsibilities will remain with Israel.
The report said that Barak’s approval came in response to the11 request made by the PA. Barak maintains constant contact with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on the issues of troop deployment, economic initiatives and the border security with Israel.
According to the report, the Israeli security establishment is pleased with the success of Palestinian police’s deployment in the West Bank cities of Nablus, Jenin, and Hebron. The officers, who were trained in Jordan by American security teams, successfully secured two business conferences that were recently held in Bethlehem and Nablus.
Palestinian sources said that the police force designated for Bethlehem will apparently be allocated from the forces currently patrolling the outskirts of Hebron.
Col. Sulaiman Omran, the chief of Palestinian security forces in Bethlehem area, said that talks between “higher Palestinian and Israeli security officials on the deployment of the officers in Bethlehem are expected to continue over the next few days.”
Israel, in cooperation with Jordan and the European Union, are investing great efforts in expediting the deployment of Palestinian troops in the region while building up the PA’s institutions in an effort to bolster support for Abbas within the Palestinian population.
Meanwhile, Abbas yesterday gave Hamas an end-of-year deadline to resume dialogue with his leadership or face snap elections. “We reiterate today that we are going to set a deadline of the end of the year for the launch of a national dialogue,” Abbas said in a televised address.
— With input from agencies
