Israel and PA security services cooperate against protests in West Bank

Senior Israeli security officials recently met with their Palestinian counterparts, as well the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, in an attempt to quell Palestinian protests against the US “deal of the century”, Arab48.com reported on Wednesday.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Arab48.com revealed that the Israeli security agencies are seeking high-level security cooperation with the PA, in order to prevent massive demonstrations.

Haaretz announced that Israeli officials had conveyed to the PA leadership that It would be better not to encourage the Palestinians to protests, under the pretext that the deal might not be announced before the Israeli elections.

The Israeli daily newspaper disclosed that the Israeli security officials believe that: “It is not feasible for Israel to pledge to take dramatic steps to agitate the PA, in order not to be pushed to let the Palestinian people protest and start confrontations with the Israeli forces.”

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Meanwhile, it believed that the Israeli officials also do not expect that PA president, Mahmoud Abbas, will suspend the security cooperation with them in the near future.

Abbas may wait, according to Haaretz, until after ensuring that the “deal of the century” is not a public relations measure taken for the sake of the Israeli elections.

The newspaper also reported the concerns of the Israeli security officials regarding Abbas’s invitation to Hamas leaders to attend a meeting with him in the West Bank.

The security agencies are still speculating whether this measure was symbolic, and taken to absorb the shock of the announcement of the deal.

Israeli security agencies are also working to prevent Hamas from joining the West Bank protests against the deal, conveying a message to Hamas that the deal will not affect the truce between the two sides.

Security evaluations, according to Haaretz, state that the latest Israeli measures taken to ease the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza, aim to maintain peace and to persuade Hamas to keep the protests only within Gaza, and away from the eastern fence between Gaza and Israel.