Close security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) is one of the wonders of the complex relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians. On July 24, it was reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had summoned the PA’s leadership for an urgent meeting in Ramallah the following day to discuss various dramatic steps they might take with regard to their relationship with Israel. Although it was not specifically stated what will be on the agenda, two recent intimations suggest that security coordination with Israel will continue even as the two parties convey the sense that their relationship has reached a crisis point.
One sign was the July 23 arrest by Israeli security forces of Alaa Bashir, a Quranic teacher from the West Bank village of Jinsafut, near Qalqilya. Bashir was suspected of planning a suicide attack in Israel. She had previously been arrested by Palestinian security forces two months earlier, apparently on the basis of information provided by Israel that she was planning a suicide attack on behalf of the Islamic State. Instructional materials were found in her home, and during her interrogation by the PA forces, she did not deny that she was planning an attack.
