PA deploys armed troops in Hevron
PA deploys armed troops in HevronIsrael News Photo: (Flash 90)

The Palestinian Authority government on the Sabbath entered Hevron with 550 special armed forces, which are being described as "policemen," in a further step to extend its control in Judea and Samaria. At the same time, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called off talks with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday. "It might look like we're intervening in Israeli internal affairs. We don't want that," PA negotiator Saeb Erakat told Reuters.

The talks were to give Abbas an opportunity to allow Prime Minister Olmert to spell out his previous offer of giving up almost all of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem as well as trading off large parts of Israel in return for retaining large population centers, particularly Ma'aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion.

 

The meeting was expected to be the last time the two leaders would meet on an official basis, but the apparent failure of Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni to form a new government has changed the scenario.

 

The cancellation of talks did not delay the PA security force move into Hevron, where 2,400 policemen already operate. Prime Minister Olmert agreed to allow the American-trained PA troops to patrol the city despite protests from the Jewish community that the move will aid and abet terrorists.

 

Similar deployments in Shechem and Jenin have allowed the PA to boast that it is controlling law and order, but Israeli Defense Forces officers repeatedly have said that the PA forces tackle problems of traffic violations and crimes but not terror.

 

In Shechem and Jenin, the PA forces do not operate in the middle of the night, while the IDF continues to carry out nightly counterterrorist operations. Abbas has claimed, at least for public consumption, that the IDF actions undermine PA authority.

 

Hamas has charged that Israel and the PA are cooperating to attack the terrorist organization's structure, and the Olmert administration has stated that Hamas, and not Fatah, is the focus of arrests of terrorists.

 

The government has tried to allay fears of Hevron Jews by insisting that the PA forces will not be allowed to enter Jewish areas. However, the Jewish community fears a repeat of previous incidents in which PA troops used their uniforms and weapons in attacks on Jews.