The sources said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has urged the United States
to extract Israeli concessions in the West Bank. In the first step, they
said, Abbas wants Israel to transfer security responsibility to the PA for
the West Bank city
of Tulkarm.
Abbas has been the target of sharp criticism from within Fatah,
including members of its Central Committee. The sources said the PA
chairman, accused of grooming his son as successor, has been urged to form
an emergency government and reconcile with the Hamas leadership in Syria.
"Abu Mazen [Abbas] is very scared that he will be seen as the stooge for
the Israelis and Americans," another security source said. "Already, the man
is scared to leave Ramallah."
In 2008, Israel handed over security responsibility to the PA for the
cities of Jenin, Nablus and most of Hebron. The PA deployed National
Security Forces and Presidential Guard troops trained by the United States
outside of Amman, Jordan.
The Israeli Defense Ministry has been consulting with the military
regarding the proposed transfer of Tulkarm to PA security responsibility.
The sources said the military's Central Command has opposed the move and
warned that the PA was not ready to assume control over Tulkarm, located
along the 1967 border with Israel.
The sources said Israel was preparing to release more than 1,000
Palestinians in exchange for Cpl. Gilead Shalit, abducted by Hamas in 2006.
They said Hamas has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinians from
the West Bank, including leading former Fatah secretary-general Marwan
Barghouti.
On Feb. 21, the PA said it would not negotiate with any Israeli
government that did not support the establishment of a Palestinian state and
a freeze on Jewish housing in the West Bank. Abbas was said to have relayed
this position to the United States and other members of the so-called
Quartet, which consisted of Russia, the European Union and the United
Nations.
"Any Israeli government that rejects the two-state principle and the
previously signed agreements and [rejects] pledges to halt settlements, lift
the siege and closure, will not be a partner of the PLO, and there will be
no political negotiations with it," PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
