Palestinian Authority sighs in relief after capture of last 2 fugitive terrorists

“Tonight’s IDF operation effectively neutralized the threat posed to the Palestinian Authority” by the armed terrorists in Jenin, a Palestinian security official stressed.

By Baruch Yedid/TPS

“The Shin Bet’s operation tonight in Jenin was received with great satisfaction by the Palestinian Authority and removed from the PA the need to deal with extensive demonstrations, which would have taken place if any of the prisoners had been killed,” a PA security official told TPS.

“The great failure of the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) was corrected by the Israeli Shin Bet, whose success in capturing the prisoners alive prevented a headache from the Palestinian Authority,” he said.

“Tonight’s IDF operation effectively neutralized the threat posed to the Palestinian Authority” by the armed terrorists in Jenin, the PA security official stressed.

PA sources make it clear that the postponement of the prisoners’ strike, which was scheduled to begin last Friday, also led to a decrease in security tensions in the PA’s territories. 1,380 prisoners were about to begin the first phase of the strike and a six-person headquarters had already been set up to manage the strike, according to PA sources.

Palestinian sources claim that the leadership in the prisons demanded that the IPS not administer collective punishment after it turns out that the escape from Gilboa Prison was a private act of the six prisoners.

Referring to the possibility that Islamic Jihad will respond in the coming hours to the capture of its people, Palestinian sources say that Hamas has arrested a number of Islamic Jihad members in recent days to prevent further rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

A senior Palestinian source told TPS that “the Egyptian presence has been well felt in the Palestinian arena recently. Egypt is working to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip and finalize a prisoner exchange deal, and later to establish a Palestinian unity government between Fatah and Hamas, in a way that will re-regulate relations between Israel and the PA and Hamas and will be a springboard for the renewal of the diplomatic process.”

“Egypt is complying with Israel’s calming policy, which, among other things, has resulted in the IPS accepting the conditions set by Palestinian prisoners and in Israel’s willingness to allow Qatari money into the Gaza Strip, including for Hamas officials,” he said.

In this context, the newspaper Al-Ayyam claims that Israel has withdrawn from its demand to tie the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip with the return of the two Israelis and bodies of two IDF soldiers held by Hamas, while Al-Quds claims from its sources that Israel and Qatar are in talks to allow the transfer of Qatari money.