Last week a number of news organizations focused on the growing security responsibilities of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.
Howard Schneider of the Washington Post reported For Palestinian Forces a growing role in the West Bank:
Amid a marked decline in violence in and emanating from the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops would no longer enter Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Qalqilyah unless there are “urgent security needs.” The agreement, struck at a Palestinian command center outside Bethlehem where commanders from the two sides gathered on Wednesday night, authorizes Palestinian police and security troops to remain in control of the four cities 24 hours a day. They had previously pulled back between midnight and 5 a.m. to avoid “friendly fire” encounters with IDF patrols.
The agreement stops short of recent demands by Palestinian officials that the IDF pull back fully from “area A” — the mostly urban territory that, under the 1993 Oslo accords, was put under the authority of Palestinian forces. The Oslo arrangement unraveled beginning in 2000 when a violent intifada, or uprising, led the IDF to reestablish control over the entire West Bank and surround Palestinian cities with checkpoints and barriers.
Isabel Kershner of The New York Times also reported Israelis Cede More Control of West Bank Security:
Israel has agreed to give the Palestinian security forces more freedom of action in four West Bank cities, Israeli and Palestinian security officials said Thursday, a move that implies a reduction in Israeli military activity in those areas as the Western-backed Palestinian forces assert more control.
The Israeli military also recently removed several significant checkpoints inside the West Bank, in line with a policy of easing movement and improving daily life for the Palestinians so long as calm prevails. A Palestinian can now drive from Jenin in the northern West Bank to Hebron in the south without being stopped and checked at any permanent roadblock along the way, the military says.
The article also notes (similar to the Washington Post):
But Palestinian officials said that the Israeli measures did not go far enough. The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday that they did not meet Palestinian expectations, and that “what is required is a full cessation of military raids in Palestinian Authority areas.â€
It was always thus: Israel doesn’t meet Palestinian expectations.
There are a few points worth elaborating.
Left unsaid in these articles is that the reason there’s any semblance of order in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Qalqilyah, is because Israel destroyed most of the terrorist infrastructure during Operation Defensive Shield. Acknowledging that there is a military solution to terrorism is one of those things that’s just not reported.
Also missing is a serious recounting of the “Aqsa intifada.” At the time, Israel and the Palestinian Authority had joint security patrols and Israel allowed the Palesitnians a lot more freedom. However Arafat used that freedom to create a terrorist infrastructure. So when Israel reclaimed control of the areas it had previously ceded it wasn’t because it was defending its citizens. This is typical of reporting on the Middle East: treating Israeli military or security actions as arbitrary and ignoring the very real reasons why Israel undertook them.
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that this isn’t 1993, but 2009. Even if the Palestinian efforts at building a civil society are successful, it’s awfully late in the game. If Arafat had made similar efforts, we’d have peace by now. But the Clinton administration found it expedient to ignore Arafat’s perfidies in the name of peace. And still the Palestinian Authority is a lot more inclined to make peace with Hamas than with Israel, still honors terrorists and is marginalizing its most moderate leader.
Daled Amos focused on articles in Pajamas Media and Ha’aretz. He concluded:
The face of the West Bank is changing–albeit very slowly, and with lots of external help. The West Bank still does not have the infrastructure to exist as an independent state, but it is not the impoverished and overpopulated hellhole that Palestinian apologists claim.
It’s good that the Palestinians under Fatah have decided to create a civil society, however slowly that’s proceeding. That’s a necessary condition for peace. But it is not sufficient. They also have to create a society willing to co-exist with Israel. It is far from clear that they are creating such a society.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
