The security cabinet will reportedly discuss approving a series of measures to boost the Palestinian Authority during a meeting on Sunday, amid renewed fears that the PA is on the verge of collapse.
According to Friday’s Hebrew media reports, the cabinet will discuss economic, travel and security measures aimed at stabilizing the PA with the support of the Israeli security establishment.
The proposed steps include approving a new industrial zone in Tarkumiya, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, which has long been favored by Israeli security officials, Channel 13 reports.
The cabinet will also discuss economic measures, including an easing of the PA loan payment schedule to Israel, and travel arrangements, such as extending operation hours for the Allenby crossing into Jordan and the issuance of biometric passports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and other security officials will brief lawmakers on security issues, Channel 13 reports.
Security officials told the network that they had warned the political leadership about a possible collapse of the PA and called for the measures to be stepped up quickly.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Defense Minister Yoav Galant (R) visit a military post near Jenin on July 4, 2023. (Ham Zach/GPO)
The measures are also aimed at countering Iran’s influence in the West Bank, reports Ynet news site. The regime in Tehran supports the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.
The PA is at loggerheads with its main rival Hamas, and PA security forces crack down on more militant elements in the West Bank. The PA and Israel also coordinate on security, although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said this week that cooperation was over, a threat he has repeatedly made in the past.
The collapse of the PA is likely to create chaos and a power vacuum in the West Bank, and provide an opportunity for terrorist groups to regain control, similar to the situation in Gaza, where Hamas violently ousted the PA in 2007. The PA has increasingly lost control of the northern West Bank, empowering terrorist groups, and prompting Israeli forces to conduct regular operations in the area after a series of deadly terrorist attacks emanating from the region.
Israeli forces earlier this week launched a major anti-terrorist operation in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, which Israel considers a terror epicenter, and where the PA has little authority.
Palestinian gunmen take a position during a confrontation with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin on July 3, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
Three major Israeli TV networks reported the planned cabinet discussion during Friday night’s broadcast in what appeared to be a coordinated leak from the government.
Israeli officials have already leaked plans to promote the PA in recent months, amid pressure from the US to increase cooperation between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
In February, a senior official in Netanyahu’s office told the Times of Israel that Prime Minister had signed On a series of small measures to provide financial support to Ramallah. But as of last week, two of the three promised steps had yet to be implemented.
Late last month, Netanyahu reportedly told lawmakers that Israel “needs the Palestinian Authority”, but also stated that Israel “needs to be crushed”. [the Palestinian] ambition” for an independent state.
In this photo provided by the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends the Arab summit on May 19, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)
The planned cabinet discussion follows the IDF’s anti-terrorist operation in Jenin earlier this week and continued violence in the area since then.
During the IDF operation in Jenin, 12 Palestinian gunmen were killed along with one Israeli soldier, Sgt. 1st Class David Yehuda Yitzhak from the Eggos Commando Unit. The IDF was investigating whether Yitzhak had allegedly been hit by friendly fire.
In response to the Jenin operation, Abbas stated that security coordination with Israel would remain suspended and other ties would be cut.
Abbas has threatened to halt security coordination with Israel several times in the past and in January announced a complete halt to clashes following an IDF raid in Jenin that killed nine Palestinians, most of them terrorists. Groups had members, but there was also at least one. citizen. Israel said at the time that the raid was a necessary counter-terrorism operation.
But after a week, Abbas accepted told visiting CIA chief William Burns that parts of the security coordination mechanism remained in place and could potentially be fully restored.
Palestinian security forces rest after clashes with Palestinians following an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on September 20, 2022. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
Previous Palestinian moves to suspend this coordination have been short-lived, partly because the PA stands to benefit from the relationship by helping it deal with challenges from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It has also faced pressure from the US and Israel to maintain ties with Israel, with all three seeing coordination as a key element in helping reduce terrorist activity and promote stability in the West Bank. .
Violence has continued in the area in recent days following the Jenin operation.
On Friday morning two armed Palestinians were charged with carrying out the latest shooting attack were killed by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and later in the day, by a Palestinian man shot dead Israeli soldiers near the village of Umm Safa in the West Bank.
On Thursday an Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. Shiloh Yosef Amir, 22, was killed By a Palestinian gunman near the settlement of Kedumim. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
During the past year, Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly targeted military posts, troops operating near the West Bank security barrier, Israeli settlements and civilians on the streets.
Tension has run high between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank for the past year and a half, with Israeli forces conducting almost nightly raids amid a series of deadly Palestinian terrorist attacks.
Since the beginning of this year, 25 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank.
According to a report by The Times of Israel, 151 West Bank Palestinians have been killed during that time – most of them during clashes with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were not involved and others were killed under unclear circumstances. I was killed.
