[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: "IDF Brigadier General Tivon said that as long as
there are no terrorist attacks and the security of the Israelis is
safeguarded, it will be possible to ease restrictions on the movement of
Palestinians. " = The terrorists will get a chance to "celebrate" Ramadan
with one successful attack - but after that one security measures will be
returned?

Or put another way: if you are a cynical person you should hope that at
least you won't know any of the people killed in the successful terrorist
attack before security is restored?

|Yes. The above is a terrible thing to write. But the experience has been
just that. Time and again Israelis have "died to please" as security
measures are dropped only to be restored after their absence is - as
expected - exploited.]

IDF, PA meet for highest-level security talks held since 1994
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents Last update -
07:10 31/08/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/899369.html

All Palestinian security organizations in the West Bank met Thursday with
their Israel Defense Forces counterparts in the highest-level talks held
since 1994 in Beit El army headquarters, near Ramallah.

At the meeting the Palestinians requested the IDF remove roadblocks, which
they said would be an important gesture for the Palestinian people during
the approaching holy month of Ramadan.

The IDF promised to consider a variety of measures that would ease the
difficulty in travel faced by the Palestinian population in the West Bank.
However, at this stage they did not specify the roadblocks that would be
lifted.

IDF Brigadier General Tivon said that as long as there are no terrorist
attacks and the security of the Israelis is safeguarded, it will be possible
to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.

He promised that as Ramadan approaches, he will stress in his orders to the
troops under his command that they should exhibit greater sensitivity to the
needs of the civilian population.

All the heads of the Palestinian Authority's security organizations
operating in the West Bank were present at the meeting. These included the
head of the National Security organization in the West Bank, General Diab
al-Ali, as well as the commanders of Preventive Security, the police, the
General Intelligence Service, Military Intelligence and the head of the
civilian liaison office, Hussein al-Sheikh.

Security coordination at this level between the two sides occured up until
the outbreak of the intifada in late September 2000 on an individual basis.
However, not since 1994 has all the Palestinian security services been
present in a single conference with their
Israeli counterparts, mostly because of the internal disputes among the
competing security forces.

The Palestinian Authority also asked to renew the security coordination
between the two sides at the General Staff level, and the Israeli officers
said that they would deliver the request with their recommendation.

The Palestinians also asked for an easing of restrictions on the ability of
policemen to travel in different parts of the West Bank. On this request
also, the Israeli officers said that they would consider it favorably as
long as there are no terrorist attacks.

The atmosphere during the meeting between the two sides was good, and the
Israeli officers thanked their Palestinian counterparts for the role of the
security forces in rescuing an IDF Major Razi Revah, who accidentally
entered Jenin earlier this week and was confronted by an angry mob.

Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the improvement in the
coordination of security between them in the recent months, and the Israeli
officers said that they would make efforts to ease restrictions on the
movement of cargo.