Israel has agreed to reduce its military presence in four PA-controlled cities, including Ramallah and Bethlehem, raising concern that terrorists will fill the security vacuum.
In yet another gesture towards the Palestinian Authority, senior IDF officials have informed their PA counterparts that they would “reduce to a minimum” the army’s presence in four cities: Kalkilya, Ramallah, Jericho and Bethlehem. PA forces are expected to assume greater responsibility for security issues in these cities – though Israel reserves the right to enter the cities when necessary.
“Over 1,000 Israelis have already paid with their lives for the lack of understanding that only free IDF activity can guarantee security for Israeli citizens,” Dayan said. 
This was the result of a meeting on Wednesday between Brig.-Gen. Noam Tivon, commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Civil Adminsitration head Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai and top PA officers.
The Almagor Terror Victims Association responded by asking the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to hold an urgent session on the topic. “This new decision,’ Almagor wrote to the Committee, “together with the removal of most of the checkpoints, exposes the citizens and soldiers of Israel to increased terror activity, under the auspices of the security vacuum that will now be formed in the cities – as we have seen in the past.
“No Palestinian force can do the work for us the way that IDF soldiers know how, want and can do it.
“In addition, the decision to pass security information to the PA makes the sin even worse in that it exposes our Arab informants to danger, and enables the terrorist-sympathizers who fill the PA to warn the terrorists to hide – as it used to happen in the past.”
The PA forces were active until now only from midnight til 5 AM but will now work 24 hours around the clock.
Danny Dayan, who heads the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, warns of the dangers of the new decision: “We have been through this story before. The IDF goes out, the terrorist labs begin working and thriving once again and the terrorist attacks resume.”
“Over 1,000 Israelis have already paid with their lives for the lack of understanding that only free IDF activity can guarantee security for Israeli citizens,” Dayan said.