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Despite Netanyahu, PA continues security cooperation with Israel

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Adnan al-Damiri, the Palestinian Authority security services spokesman, claims that the Israeli leadership chooses to ignore the tight security cooperation in the West Bank for political reasons.

Palestinian riot police take position as they try to stop Palestinians from clashing with Israeli troops, during a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, in the West Bank City of Hebron August 22, 2014. 
 REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR43D07
Palestinian riot police take position as they try to stop Palestinians from clashing with Israeli troops during a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, in the West Bank City of Hebron, Aug. 22, 2014. — REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Unless Israel takes provocative measures in the coming days or weeks, especially in Jerusalem or at the Temple Mount, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is convinced that the wave of terror that has washed over Israel since October could likely end. Close and intense security cooperation has been fostered between the Palestinian security forces and the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces (IDF). As one senior Palestinian security official describes it, never before has security cooperation been as intense, elaborate and effective as it is today with the purpose of preventing and scuttling terrorist attacks from the West Bank.

It is feared that if West Bank Hamas militants or members of the Islamic Jihad military wing were to join the "Jerusalem intifada," unrest would spiral out of control. One terror attack would follow the next, and getting the genie back in the bottle would be a tall order.

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