IDF Recommends Bolstering Palestinian Security Forces

The IDF has recommended bolstering the security forces of the  Palestinian Authority to counter the two-month wave of terrorism that shows no signs of letting up.

Recommendations to the government included supplying PA police with more firearms and armored vehicles and releasing Fatah prisoners with light security offenses, a senior military official disclosed on Wednesday night.

The IDF stressed that the PA, if better equipped, could ferret out Palestinian terrorists in their hiding places, since they are more familiar with the terrain than the Israelis.

The recommendations also included the easing of work and travel restrictions in order to moderate conditions on the ground. They proposed an additional 5,000 work visas for residents of the PA-controlled areas to strengthen the Palestinian economy and help stabilize the situation.

In an unusual move, later on Wednesday the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying that the government is not ready to implement the suggestions made by the military with regard to supplying ammunition to the PA.

Meanwhile, a senior IDF source said on Wednesday that the series of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and security personnel, and daily rioting, is a “limited uprising” but could worsen if effective steps are not taken at this time. Groups of rioters numbering in the dozens or hundreds could mushroom into the thousands.

The officer noted that the military has identified 12 problem areas in Yehudah and Shomron where some 95 percent of the terror attacks have occurred, and those are the areas where Israeli security forces have concentrated their efforts.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the November 26th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.