Jerusalem district police have allowed Palestinian Authority armed forces to operate within areas under complete Israeli control, according to Israel Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby, who was quoted by WorldNet Daily journalist Aaron Klein. The allegation was confirmed by Arutz-7 (Hebrew) journalist Shimon Cohen.
Police officials confirmed to Cohen that PA police operate in areas outside the Jerusalem municipal limits but within Israeli territory. Klein reported that police also have allowed PA forces to enter the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Kalandia, Samir-Amis and Akeb as well.
Jerusalem police commanders said the presence of PA officers in some neighborhoods was the reason Jews had been warned against entering some Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, according to Klein.
Police downplayed the PA's role in securing the areas in question, saying PA officers were brought in only in cases of fighting between rival clans and other “minor matters.” Israeli police, soldiers and Border Guard officers control all other security matters, they said.
Prominent Jerusalem activist Aryeh King expressed concern that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government had approved of the arrangement in order to create “facts on the ground” that would lead towards Jerusalem being effectively divided.
King confirmed the reported PA operations with first-hand testimony, saying he had seen PA officers in Jerusalem on multiple occasions, while attending to Jewish land located in majority-Arab sections of the city. His complaints to Israeli police were ignored, he said.
King said he had already contacted several Knesset members and asked them to demand that Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu forbid PA officers from entering any part of Israel's sovereign territory. If those who oppose the current situation do not act, Netanyahu could leave the situation as is, he warned.