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PA resumes security ties with Israel

November 8, 2017 at 2:16 pm

Palestinian Authority today said it had resumed security coordination with Israel in the occupied West Bank, frozen in July as a result of Israel’s increased surveillance around Al-Aqsa.

Police chief Hazem Attallah told foreign reporters in a briefing that the suspension of ties had ended two weeks ago.

“Security coordination between Palestinian and Israeli services have resumed as it used to be before it stopped,” Attallah said, adding that he was referring to joint efforts to prevent militant attacks, as crime-fighting police cooperation between the sides had never stopped.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted security coordination with Israel on 21 July, demanding it remove metal detectors it had installed outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Amid mass protests across the world and a Palestinian refusal to pass through the detectors, Israel dismantled the barriers two weeks later and said it would install less obtrusive security measures. Earlier this week, Israeli police began placing cameras at gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque to monitor Palestinians as they entered and exited the holy site, Safa News Agency  reported.

Read: PA takes control of Gaza crossings