The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation announced at dawn on Saturday that Palestinian security forces were moving into the West Bank camps to prevent gunmen from attacking the Israeli army. It was reported that as part of these efforts, the focus is on preventing the planting of explosive devices in the streets and alleys inside the camps in the West Bank.
On December 24, the Al-Quds news website reported that the Palestinian services had succeeded in dismantling 3 large explosive devices and seized a group of locally made bombs in the town of Azzun, near Qalqilya.
The devices were found ready and hidden in a location inside the town, in preparation to confront any intrusion by the occupation army. After the withdrawal of the security forces, the occupation forces entered the site and conducted thorough inspections.
Since the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle, the West Bank has witnessed an escalation in resistance operations that varied between shooting operations, confrontations, and stone throwing. During the past 24 hours alone, confrontations broke out with the occupation forces in several areas in the West Bank, leading to the death of 4 Palestinians by bullets from the Israeli occupation army.
The number of martyrs since the start of the battle reached 316 martyrs in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
Security coordination
Despite the confirmation provided by the leadership of the Palestinian Authority on October 18 of last year regarding the continued suspension of security coordination in light of the aggression against Gaza, the Israeli side confirmed that coordination had not actually been stopped, but rather its pace had increased since the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, at a time when the votes had increased. Demanding a reconsideration of the idea of security coordination within the Fatah movement.
According to estimates by analysts and national security research centers, security coordination with the Palestinian Authority is considered a common interest with Israel, as the latter uses it to reduce tension and avoid full confrontation with the Palestinians. This coordination is also important for the Palestinian Authority, which realizes that a lack of coordination could mean its dissolution and the loss of its control in the West Bank.
Given that it is a common interest, security coordination, which has witnessed fluctuations over three decades, and with recognition from the Israeli side, has not been interrupted or stopped completely, even in cases of crises and tensions between successive Israeli governments and the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
Common interest
Within the framework of achieving common interests, the Israeli side seeks, through security coordination, to undermine “armed operations” and weaken the Palestinian resistance. On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority seeks, through this coordination, to weaken the Palestinian opposition and maintain its continuity in power.
These interests include ensuring coordination of civil, service, economic, and tax affairs, as well as managing issues of employment of workers, movement, travel, and issuing permits to Palestinians.
Reserve Colonel Moshe Elad, lecturer at the Academic College of the Western Galilee and its president, explained that the current security coordination differs fundamentally from the original coordination that was established in the West Bank in 1995, which came after the Oslo Accords.
This coordination was clearly visible to the Israeli and Palestinian public, as it included joint patrols and mobile reserve units, and included joint cooperation in operations rooms, and media coverage of it was an integral part of joint security cooperation activity.
Elad pointed out that “the current coordination represents a common interest for Israel and the Authority, and has become clearer and more important than ever before with regard to maintaining the continuity of the existence of the Palestinian Authority. This includes transferring intelligence information from the Palestinian side to Israel, and assisting in various ways in arresting individuals from the two Hamas movements.” “And jihad. Coordination is currently considered a deterrent means to prevent Hamas from assuming power in the West Bank.”
Although the Palestinian Authority announced the suspension of security coordination with Israel on January 26, 2023, after the military operation in Jenin and its camp, security coordination between Israel and the Authority witnessed fluctuations. “It has not stopped, and is still continuing on several levels,” according to a report by Sapir Lipkin, Arab affairs correspondent for the Israeli Channel 12.