Israel and Jordan recently offered the Palestinian Authority a pilot program that would leave security responsibility over a single West Bank city entirely in the hands of the PA, in an attempt to reduce tensions caused by recent deadly Israeli raids, according to a Thursday report.
According to an unsourced Channel 12 news report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah II secretly discussed the proposal in their meeting in January. The plan would reportedly see Palestinian security forces given sole responsibility for conducting arrests of suspected terror operatives and maintaining law and order in either the city of Tulkarem or Qalqilya, thereby avoiding violent, often deadly clashes between locals and Israeli troops.
If the pilot were successful, it could then be expanded to other cities, the report said.
According to Channel 12, the PA was uninterested in the offer, believing that it would weaken its already-dire status in the eyes of many Palestinians, as they would be seen as fully cooperating with Jerusalem on arrests.
Although Tulkarem and Qalqilya are part of Area A — West Bank land under PA civilian and security control — the IDF regularly enters the territory to conduct arrests.
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