- i24news
- Middle East
- West Bank & Gaza Strip
- West Bank: Israel gives PA chance to restore security in Jenin - report
West Bank: Israel gives PA chance to restore security in Jenin - report
Although there has been no official confirmation of the handover of security control over Jenin from the Israeli side, there are signs of it on the ground
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently gave the Palestinian Authority (PA) a new chance to restore its security role in the West Bank city of Jenin, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar said Wednesday, quoting sources from within the ruling body in the West Bank.
According to the report, the move comes following agreements reached during regional summits in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh and Jordan’s Aqaba. For more than a year, Israeli security forces have entered the city on a near-weekly basis to carry out counter-terrorism operations against armed groups.
However, after the last major operation in the city ended two weeks ago with record casualties there have been no further incursions by the Israeli military. Since then, Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Jenin. Frictions between these terrorist groups and the PA forces have been reported as a result of the detentions.
While there has been no official confirmation of the handover of the security control over Jenin from the Israeli side, there are signs of it on the ground.
The readout of the recent phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden indirectly confirmed the reports, saying that Biden “recognized promising steps by the Palestinian Authority to reassert security control in Jenin and other areas of the West Bank.”
Last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Jenin for the first time since 2012, vowing to "rebuild" it after the latest Israeli military operation.