Israel's Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has taken on a new job: protecting senior Palestinian Authority officials as they travel through Judea and Samaria. So says the Israeli daily Haaretz, based on anonymous military sources.
The sources report that Israeli experts provide protection to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as the two travel through regions of Judea and Samaria defined as “Area C.”
"Area C" is the designation for parts of Judea and Samaria in which Israel controls security and Israeli law applies, while "Area B" refers to places in which Israel controls security but does not administer civilian life, and in "Area A" the PA is in nearly full control.
Shin Bet troops focus on protecting Abbas and Fayyad from would-be assassins, the sources said. The threat of assassination is seen as coming primarily from two groups: terrorists from Hamas, the rival group to Abbas's Fatah, and nationalist Jews.
In addition to preventing assassination, the Israeli forces aim to prevent a scenario in which Abbas's guards feel threatened and decide to open fire within Area C.
Israel Police and the IDF Civil Administration have been involved in guarding Fayyad as well, the report stated. Police, Civil Administration workers, and Shin Bet operatives reportedly worked together to guard Fayyad during the PA leader's recent visit to the Shechem region.
PA officials were angered by the report, which they saw as an attempt to defame PA security. “This news is not true. The Israeli media says so to misrepresent and to harm the status of the Palestinian Authority,” PA spokesman Adnan A-Dameri told PA media.