(Jerusalem Post) Margot Dudkevitch - Jericho will not be handed over to the PA for the time being, after meetings between Israeli and Palestinian security officials failed to bridge a gap between the two sides. Israel did not agree to a Palestinian demand to receive full control of Highway 90 - a major traffic artery from Jerusalem through the Jordan Valley to northern Israel. Israel also turned down a Palestinian request to remove all checkpoints in the region. Senior security officials said that if the Palestinians focused on moving forward instead of disputing minute details, they could have already received security control weeks ago and possibly several other cities by now. "They still haven't been able to control the situation in their own areas, where anarchy still prevails. All you have to do is look at the incident from this past week such as the failure of PA official Nassar Youssef to arrest Zakhariya Zubeidi, or the attempts by armed Palestinian gunmen to abduct Palestinian police in Nablus," an official said.
2005-03-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive