By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday that 20 Palestinian police stations will open in the West Bank cities as part of the plan to ease restrictions on Palestinians.
Besides seven that have been opened, three more Palestinian police stations will open in Jenin on Tuesday morning, according to an IDF spokesperson.
The Palestinian police will be in charge of keeping peace, while security responsibility for the city will still remain with the IDF, the spokesperson said.
The plan to ease restrictions on Palestinians was created following a series of meetings between regional IDF commanders, Palestinian security officials and other Palestinian National Authority (PNA) senior officials.
The spokesperson said Israel and PNA in April reached an agreement to reopen 20 police stations in the West Bank in a bid to assist the Palestinians enforcing its security plan in the area. It is the first time for Israel to approve such a measure since 2001.
The spokesperson said three of the seven police stations have been opened are in Tulkarm, two in Ramallah, one in Qalqiliya and one in Nablus.
Also as part of the plan to ease restrictions on Palestinians, Israel on Monday began to allow its Arab citizens go into Jenin to visit relatives and shop for the first time since the Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Israeli army said it will also increase the number of Palestinian workers allowed into Israel by 40 percent, which means that altogether 5000 Palestinians workers will be permitted to stay overnight in Israel.