By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will approve the deployment of a 600-strong Palestinian police force in the West Bank town of Jenin, local media reported on Tuesday.
Local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website that the defense minister will notify Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of Israel’s decision during their meeting Wednesday. The Palestinian police to be deployed in Jenin just completed their training course in Jordan.
However, the Palestinian police will be in charge of enforcing law and order in the town only, while the military control remains in hand of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the report said. On Friday, an IDF spokesman announced that Israel had also agreed to let in 25 armored vehicles supplied by Russia to Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.
Barak is considering a series of gestures ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Israel next week aimed at easing restrictions in the West Bank.
The gestures include lifting a number of temporary roadblocks, opening a VIP lane at checkpoints, and exempting Palestinian businessmen who are approved by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) from inspections.
It is reported that the proposals were already raised several weeks ago, but became subtler after the talks in Yemen between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah and rival Islamic Hamas. The goodwill measures for the Palestinians may be intended as a message to the Palestinian Authority that if it gets too close to Hamas, it risks “losing everything,” government officials said Sunday.