Israeli and Palestinian officials confirm renewed security talks

PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas meeting during the Sharm el-Sheikh summit last month. (AP)

3 July 2007

Israeli and Palestinian security officials have resumed meetings after nearly two years, officials on both sides confirmed Tuesday, the latest sign of warming ties in the wake of Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

"The officials met in an undisclosed location on Monday to talk about how to move forward with security cooperation," said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Palestinian officials said the session was the latest in a flurry of contacts of recent weeks.

The officials said the talks included discussions on the movement of Palestinian forces and guarantees of safety for security installations during Israel Defense Forces operations.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Israeli and Palestinian officials held such meetings in the 1990s, but they were cut off after the eruption of the latest Israeli-Palestinian violence in 2000, and resumed only sporadically in the years that followed. Security contacts were cut off altogether after Hamas won Palestinian elections in early 2006.

The resumption of talks follows Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' expulsion of Hamas from the Palestinian government in the wake of the Islamic group's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials have said they see Abbas' formation of a new moderate government based in the West Bank as an opportunity to resume peace moves. Hamas, which maintains its own government in Gaza, has condemned Abbas' warming ties with Israel.

Meanwhile, the IDF said approximately 1,700 tons of food, 423 tons of animal feed, and at least three truckloads of medicine and medical supplies were brought into the Strip on Tuesday.

Hamas members in the West Bank are now being pursued both by Israel and by the new Palestinian government, which has been carrying out a crackdown in recent weeks.

Palestinian security officials confirmed Tuesday that they are holding dozens of Hamas members in the West Bank, and dozens more have been arrested and released.

Col. Maher Dwaikat, head of Palestinian Preventive Security in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said his men had instructions to arrest armed members of Hamas. Some were arrested and released after having their weapons confiscated, Dwaikat said, while others remained in detention.

"All of our efforts now are to prevent Hamas from carrying out another military coup in the West Bank," Dwaikat said.

At the same time, Israel has been pressing forward with a crackdown on Hamas.

On Monday, the Shin Bet announced it had arrested 11 Hamas men in Jerusalem in a monthslong sweep, charging them with channeling funds from abroad using fictitious charities and laying the groundwork for a reservoir of militant recruits. Israel said Hamas' objectives included expanding its influence at the holy site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Hamas' military wing has called the Abbas' crackdown in the West Bank a conspiracy and accused his government of collaborating with Israel.

"Hamas' fighters will not be patient for long before these cowardly criminal attacks, which are carried out in full coordination with the Zionist occupation, in a blatant and low manner," read a statement on a Hamas Web site.

Source