TRANSFERRED CITIES BECOME TERRORIST REFUGES

Jericho and Tulkarm Become "Cities of Refuge" for Palestinian Terrorists - Amir Buchbut (Maariv-Hebrew)
According to a senior Israel Defense Forces officer, "the transfer of security control in Jericho and Tulkarm has not led to the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure."

"The cities became 'cities of refuge' for terrorists who do whatever they want," he said.

"The way things look, we're not moving in the direction of transferring security control of Kalkilya until the Palestinians show us proof of changes in the field, dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, unifying the security forces, and collecting weapons." According to the officer, the reason for the reduction in attacks in recent days is not due to PA efforts but rather to a strategic decision by the terrorist organizations to temporarily cease their actions against Israel.
"They are focused totally on regaining strength," he said. "When we tell the Palestinians about warnings of impending attacks by terrorist organizations, instead of dealing with it, they run to tell the terrorists that the IDF is looking for them....The great fear is that this will blow up in our faces." According to the officer, last week there were eight attempts to smuggle weapons from Egypt to Gaza and in only two cases were the smugglers caught.