(New York Times) Ethan Bronner - The West Bank administration has begun to resemble, tentatively, a functioning state. Personal checks, long shunned as being unredeemable, are now widely accepted. Traffic tickets are issued and paid. Economic growth in the first quarter of this year was 11% over the same period in 2009, the International Monetary Fund says. Israeli troops leave security in the cities to the Palestinians during the day. But a senior Israeli Army commander said they carried out four or five operations a night - down from a dozen a year ago - and that without those actions the situation would deteriorate. A Western security official said Israeli interventions could be cut further, but he thought that the Palestinian forces, while making progress, were not yet able to take control.
2010-09-01 09:57:58Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive