Translated material
Calculated Risk
Israel helps Mahmoud Abbas
The agreement to begin reconciliation , signed on March 23 in the Yemeni capital Sanaa by representatives of the warring Palestinian groups Palestine Liberation Movement (Fatah) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), may be invalid. Saeb Erekat, one of the allies of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday that the Sana'a agreement was signed without the consent of the Palestinian President. The document was signed by Fatah's representative Azzam Ahmad. According to Mr. Erikat, the planned new round of negotiations between Fatah and Hamas is unlikely.The Mahmoud Abbas administration's disagreement with the idea of continuing negotiations with Hamas was welcomed by Israel and the United States, which consider the Hamas group "terrorist." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to visit Israel early next week. Yesterday, ahead of her arrival, the Israelis announced another step towards the administration of Mahmoud Abbas.
“Israel must meet the Palestinians halfway and make some concessions for them, even at the cost of calculated risks,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday. He immediately began to put his words into action. Today, during a meeting between Ehud Barak and the head of the Palestinian government, Salam Fayyad, the Israeli side will give the Palestinians permission to transfer 600 police officers to the Palestinian city of Jenin. In addition, some Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank may be dismantled in the near future - but a final decision on this issue has not yet been made.
Previously, security in Jenin was provided only by Israeli army personnel, but now part of the powers will pass to the Palestinians. “Palestinian police will only be engaged in maintaining law and order and monitoring the civilian population of the city. Security control in the Jenin area will remain in the hands of the Israelis,” a source in the Israeli army explained to Vremya Novostei.
The Israelis have already tried similar tactics in the Palestinian city of Nablus. In the fall of 2007, control of the city's civilian population was transferred to the Palestinian police. After only two months on the job, 300 Palestinian police officers were sent to Jordan for training. Police officers monitoring security in Jenin will also go there to study.
The initiative to train security forces in Jordan to strengthen the power of Mahmoud Abbas belongs to the United States and is carried out with American money. But the Israeli media doubts Salam Fayyad's ability to recruit 600 people to patrol the streets in Jenin. “The Palestinians have serious problems with personnel in law enforcement agencies; last time they barely managed to recruit 300 people,” reports Channel 10 of Israeli television.
Last week, during a visit to Israel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov obtained permission from the Israeli side to transfer Russian humanitarian aid to the Palestinian security forces in the form of 50 armored vehicles, which, however, at this stage will not be equipped with machine guns. The press service of the Israeli army found it difficult to answer VN’s question whether Russian vehicles would be used during patrols of Jenin. They noted that “this issue is within the competence of the Palestinians.”