PA police officer
PA police officerIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Without attracting any attention, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Police have been carrying out large scale operations in the police vacuum in neighborhoods north of Jerusalem, according to journalist Baruch Yedid. 

Yedid also revealed that the operation was not coordinated with Israeli Police or the IDF - unlike previous operations in Area B which have been prearranged between the PA and Israel. Under the Oslo Accords, Area B refers to territory that is supposed to be under exclusive Israeli security control, while administrative matters are under the PA's aegis.

Yedid told Arutz Sheva Tuesday that according to information he received, PA "preventive security" forces and other security forces carried out a ten-day operation that ended two weeks ago, in the area north of Jerusalem, between the PA Arab village of Qalandiya and the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Ya'akov. 

About 60-70 policemen in civilian clothing raided warehouses and businesses, located drug storehouses, and tracked down criminals. 

Yedid said the operation was highly successful in reducing crime in the area, which is a police "no man's land" due to the proximity of the neighborhoods to the security fence. Complaints had piled up from locals about crime; and while local Arab clan leaders had been taking care of some issues between themselves, police assistance was required. The PA is happy to make displays of sovereignty near Jerusalem, Yedid added.