RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank: The head of the Palestinian police in the occupied West Bank confirmed on Wednesday that security coordination had resumed with Israel, after it was partly suspended in July.
“Everyone is coordinating now. That means things returned to what they were before July 14,” Hazem Atallah said. “Things are normal now.”
He later confirmed to journalists in Ramallah that it was around two weeks ago that security coordination resumed fully.
President Mahmoud Abbas announced in July security coordination was being suspended in protest at Israel installing new security measures at the entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, although it was unclear to what extent it was actually cut.
The security measures, including metal detectors, were installed after two Israeli policemen were killed in the area by Palestinians of 1948 areas.
Palestinians see the security measures as the Israeli regime seeking to assert further control over the site.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
Atallah said security coordination was never completely cut for the police, saying 95 per cent of the activities had continued.
“The only thing we stopped is we didn’t meet them in the field,” he added.
“We don’t work with politics. We work for people,” he said, defending the coordination, which polls say is unpopular with most Palestinians.
