By Avi Issacharoff, 
Tags: Police, PA, Israel, West Bank 
Israel told the Palestinian Authority on Friday that it agrees to the reopening of 20 police stations under Palestinian control across the West Bank, as part of a security drive aimed at bolstering peace negotiations, officials said.
This is the first time Israel has approved such a measure since 2001.
According to Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA's Civil Affairs Ministry, the police stations were abandoned after clashes erupted in September 2000.
The stations are located in the West Bank's Area B, where under 1993 interim peace accords, Israel retains the right to deploy troops against suspected militants.
The Palestinian police will be authorized to engage in law enforcement activities, chiefly in Palestinian villages such as Tufah, which is near Nablus, Sarir, which is near Hebron, and Tekoa, which is near Bethlehem.
The agreement was reached at the end of a meeting between Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, the head of the Civil Administration, and al-Sheikh.
"This move aims to enhance security and impose law and order under the Abbas security plan," al-Sheikh told Reuters.
Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry's civil affairs wing, said officials from both sides would begin meeting next week to schedule the reopenings. The stations would eventually be staffed by 500 new police personnel, Lerner added.
The move was initially presented at tripartite a meeting held some two weeks ago on ways to improve the lives of Palestinians between Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
 Original Source