PA asks Israel to stop protecting itself for Ramadan month (
Yes I renamed the headline on this story. D.W.)
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
All Palestinian security organizations in the West Bank met Thursday with their Israel Defense Forces counterparts in the highest-level talks held since 1994 in Beit El army headquarters, near Ramallah.
At the meeting the Palestinians requested the IDF remove roadblocks, which they said would be an important gesture for the Palestinian people during the approaching Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The IDF promised to consider a variety of measures that would ease the difficulty in travel faced by the Palestinian population in the West Bank. However, at this stage they did not specify the roadblocks that would be lifted.
IDF Brigadier General Tivon said that as long as there are no terrorist attacks and the security of the Israelis is safeguarded, it will be possible to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.
He promised that as Ramadan approaches, he will stress in his orders to the troops under his command that they should exhibit greater sensitivity to the needs of the civilian population.
All the heads of the Palestinian Authority's security organizations operating in the West Bank were present at the meeting. These included the head of the National Security organization in the West Bank, General Diab al-Ali, as well as the commanders of Preventive Security, the police, the General Intelligence Service, Military Intelligence and the head of the civilian liaison office, Hussein al-Sheikh.
Security coordination at this level between the two sides occured up until the outbreak of the intifada in late September 2000 on an individual basis. However, not since 1994 has all the Palestinian security services been present in a single conference with their
Israeli counterparts, mostly because of the internal disputes among the competing security forces.
The Palestinian Authority also asked to renew the security coordination between the two sides at the General Staff level, and the Israeli officers said that they would deliver the request with their recommendation.
The Palestinians also asked for an easing of restrictions on the ability of policemen to travel in different parts of the West Bank. On this request also, the Israeli officers said that they would consider it favorably as long as there are no terrorist attacks.
The atmosphere during the meeting between the two sides was good, and the Israeli officers thanked their Palestinian counterparts for the role of the security forces in rescuing an IDF Major Razi Revah, who accidentally entered Jenin earlier this week and was confronted by an angry mob.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the improvement in the coordination of security between them in the recent months, and the Israeli officers said that they would make efforts to ease restrictions on the movement of cargo.
PA asks Israel to stop protecting itself for Ramadan month
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