Jewish World Review Feb. 8, 2005 / 29 Shevat, 5765

‘Palestinians’ are — wink, nod — cracking down against terrorists

By Michael Matza

Will the world fall for it?

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (KRT)
HAN YUNIS   —  More than 3,000 Palestinian troops have been deployed in the Gaza Strip to prevent attacks on Israel and its settlements, a move widely hailed as an important step in a regional peace process.

But among the troops, it is clear there is an informal, almost halfhearted, quality to their efforts.

In some locations, handfuls of national security recruits wearing green uniforms and rubber flip-flops perch atop rubble or in the shade of bullet-scarred buildings looking fearful and forlorn.

At other locations, sharply turned-out troops equipped with rifles and pickup trucks monitor traffic, inspect cars, and patrol quarter-mile-square sectors as often as four times an hour.

In one incident recounted last week by officers near the southern end of the coastal strip, troops patrolling at night came upon two black-masked Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade gunmen preparing to fire mortars toward a Jewish settlement.

The gunmen "cooperated well with us," said platoon leader Jamal Abu Ziad, 41. "We told them to move and they left."

The commandos were not forced to unmask or produce identity papers.

"You have to start smoothly with them," Abu Ziad said. "If they didn't listen, we would have arrested them."

If the relationship seems chummy, it is. Even as Abu Ziad was speaking, a 23-year-old who identified himself as an Al Aqsa fighter and gave only his nom de guerre, Abu Mahmoud, ambled over to talk with the troops.

"These guys are just following orders," said Abu Mahmoud, seeming unintimidated. "The ball is in Israel's court."

Gunmen from Al Aqsa, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have informally agreed to several weeks of relative calm to give new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas a chance to show what he can achieve through negotiations with Israel.

The factions have hinted they may soon sign a formal cease-fire but only if Israel halts military incursions and operations to arrest or kill wanted gunmen.