Soldiers arrested a wanted terrorist in Jenin on Sunday night, 24 hours after visiting United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left the city. She praised the Palestinian Authority for turning Jenin, which along with Shechem has shared the title of the terror capitals of Israel, into what she said was a place of law and order.
Secretary Rice, in her first-ever visit to Jenin, inaugurated a hospital wing financed by the United States and announced an additional $14 million aid for the city.
"This is a place of hope. This is a place of inspiration" and will be "a place from where the Palestinian State will spring up," she declared.
The mood on the street was different. Barber Mohammed Hamdan, 48, told the Associated Press, "You don't see stolen cars; you don't see people breaking the law in public. But we are looking for peace, and they have been negotiating for a long time without any real progress."
Israel agreed to a U.S. plan for the PA to deploy hundreds of American-trained armed PA special forces in Jenin, Shechem and Hebron, with plans to extend the force to Kalkilya, adjacent to Kfar Saba.
However, the PA forces usually deal with criminal and traffic offenders and leave the IDF to carry out counterterrorist operations in the middle of the night, when the PA forces do not operate.
IDF troops arrested 24 terrorists Sunday night and Monday morning in Ramallah and Bethlehem besides the terrorist nabbed in Jenin.
Military and security officials have told the government that the PA is not capable of maintaining law and order without the IDF counterterrorist operations, but PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has stated that the presence of the troops undermines the authority of the PA force.
The rival Hamas terrorist organization which currently rules Gaza has charged Israel and the PA with coordinating efforts to crack down on its infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.