The Palestinian Authority plans to deploy an additional 700 security personal in the West Bank city Hebron to carry out security operations among the city’s Palestinian population, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
An exact date for the deployment has yet to be set, according to the newspaper, which also reported that the Israeli army would close the border with the West Bank from midnight October 13 to October 21 due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, when thousands of Jews are expected to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, located in the Israeli-controlled part of Hebron.
The PA force, which will be the second deployed in Hebron, has been trained in Jordan under the auspices of U.S. security coordinator in the region, Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton.
The training of troops in Jordan is part of a U.S.-sponsored overhaul of the PA security forces, which have often been accused of being fractured and insufficiently trained to be handed control of Palestinian cities on the West Bank.
The new American-trained forces have recently had a string of successes. Since the deployment in Jenin four months ago the security situation in the city once called the terror capital of West Bank has improved significantly.
On Saturday the PA police in Hebron discovered a bomb-making factory in the city and arrested 11 suspects.
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