Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly pressed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to accept a U.S.-backed security plan that would help the Palestinian Authority regain control of the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus, which have been the scenes of recent unrest.
The plan was drafted by Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, the U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Axios reported Wednesday.
The plan suggests the Palestinian Authority can regain control over the northern West Bank, mainly in Jenin but also in Nablus, by training a special force that would be deployed to the areas to counter groups affiliated with the Islamic Jihad and Hamas, and Fatah members who don't adhere to the Palestinian Authority's leadership.
In the days before Blinken's visit to the Middle East, the Israeli military killed nine in a raid on the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday. Although Israel said the raid targeted terrorist operatives with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, an elderly woman was among those killed and at least a dozen civilians were wounded. On Friday, which was Holocaust Remembrance Day, a Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem killed seven Israelis outside a synagogue in the deadliest attack on Israelis in years.
Fenzel presented his plan to the Israeli government and to the Palestinian Authority several weeks ago, according to Axios. Palestinian officials told Fenzel the plan was problematic because it didn't include any demands from Israel, such as decreasing Israeli military incursions into Palestinian cities, Axios reported.
According to Axios' sources, the Palestinians also claimed the plan doesn't account for the need of the Palestinian Authority to build public support for such an operation. Fenzel was told the Palestinians don't have the legitimacy to operate during the day when the Israeli military conducts raids that lead to Palestinian deaths at night, the sources said.
"There are some concrete ideas from both sides that, if pursued, would really help diffuse the current situation, and it’s why I asked some of my colleagues to stay behind to support the efforts that both parties are making to try to get to a better path," Blinken told reporters Tuesday in Jerusalem. "The immediate task, as I said, is to diffuse this cycle of violence. And if both sides are genuinely committed to it, I think there are steps that they can take and that we heard from them that would help achieve that."
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