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Fatah militants (photo: flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff July 30, 2007 |
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering the deployment of Jordanian forces, not NATO troops, in the West Bank to aid the Palestinian Authority in fighting terrorism, according to Jerusalem Post reports.
Significantly, Olmert is talking about the regular Jordanian army -- Beduin soldiers who are experienced in combating terrorism -- not the brigade of Palestinian soldiers inside the Jordanian Army.
The Jordanian Badr Brigade is the Palestinian unit, with of 1,500 to 2,000 Palestinians who receive salaries from the PLO. Leaders have endlessly discussed sending the Badr
Brigade into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to support Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, without any concrete results for years.
Olmert said, during a speech last Thursday at the National Security College, the south Lebanon model was encouraging in looking at future scenarios for the West Bank.
"Perhaps when we leave territories in the West Bank, an international force could be one to think about," Olmert was quoted as saying during a speech last Thursday at the National Security College. "Perhaps an Arab army in the West Bank."
Olmert and Abbas may meet in Jericho if security measures can be worked out, marking the first time the two men would meet in the PA.
In related news, the Israeli government has agreed to allow a group of 41 Iraqi refugees of Palestinian origin to enter the West Bank and reunite with relatives there. The move is seen as a goodwill gesture to the Fatah government of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad in an attempt to bolster the PA's tenuous standing.
Israel denied a request by another group of 10 refugees seeking to join their relatives in the Gaza Strip, which fell to Fatah's rival Hamas last month in a violent takeover.
Following talks with the United Nations, it was agreed that the group of 41 Palestinian Iraqis will not receive refugee status and will be registered as regular citizens of the Palestinian Authority.
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