RAMALLAH, July 12 (JMCC) - The head of Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, spent the day in the West Bank city of Jenin on Monday, as part of wider efforts to coordinate security with the Palestinian Authority. The visit was Yuval Diskin's second in recent months, after a similar trip to Ramallah.
The meetings have not been made public, in accordance with an agreement between the two sides.
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin in Jerusalem
In the past three years, as security relations between Israel and the PA have improved, Diskin and other senior officials in the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces have paid several visits to PA-administered territory, primarily for meetings with senior PA officials and members of the Palestinian security services, at the Muqata compound in Ramallah.
The day-long working visits are an indication of how close the ties between the parties have become.
Diskin is essentially serving as the contact person between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority's leadership (concurrent with existing channels maintained by Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office and by senior IDF brass ).
The Shin Bet chief is also working on the Prime Minister's behalf to coordinate confidence-building measures with the Palestinians in the security field.
Chief among them is the transfer to the PA of security authority in several West Bank cities and an arrangement through which the IDF would pull out of those towns...