Israeli- Palestinian Areiha meeting failed

The Palestinian and Israeli sides have failed to reach an agreement to hand over security authorities in Areiha in the West Bank to the Palestinian authority, despite the announcement made by Israel of its consent to hand the city to the Palestinians.

News reports said that the Israeli side refused to hand over al-Auja village, to the north of the city, and to lift check points surrounding it, persisting to hand over security to the Palestinians inside the city only. A matter which was rejected by the Palestinians.

For his part, the commander of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank Lt. gen. al-Haj Ismael Jabar said that it seems the Israeli delegation has not received clear directives over dismantling all check points and permitting the Palestinians to walks on road 90 and handing over al-Auja village situated within this road..

The Palestinian and Israeli sides stressed that security meetings will continue in order to hand over the city to the Palestinians.

It is known that this road "90" is the largest road linking between Areiha area and the north of Israel adjoining the Jordanian valley.

In a joint press conference with President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel's defense minister Shaoul Mofaz said that the few coming days will witness security authority transfer of the two cities of Toulkarem and Areiha to the Palestinian authority. He indicated that two joint committees have discussed details of this operation on Wednesday.