TULKARM MULLS JOINT POLICE WORK WITH ISRAELIS

Palestinian Authority police in Tulkarm took advantage of a curfew break to
announce the impounding of a large number of marijuana plants.

Many residents saw the statement Thursday as a sign the civil police are
trying to resume normal operations, despite the destruction of their
offices and the arrest of many of their men by the IDF.

Tulkarm police chief Col. Bilal Abu Zeid's men discovered more than a
thousand plants in the home of a local drug trafficker. The suspect escaped
to Israel.

Abu Zeid said he has informed Israeli authorities that the suspect is
hiding in Israel. "Israeli and Palestinian criminals are cooperating in
distributing the drugs, and we must join hands in the battle against them,"
he said.

The statement is the first time since Operation Defensive Shield that the
Palestinians have talked about resuming cooperation with the Israeli police
in combatting crime.

Tulkarm, home to 40,000 Palestinians, has been under curfew for most of the
past five months. During this time, PA security agencies in the city,
including the civil police, have ceased to exist. Policemen no longer
direct traffic in the city center. Residents attribute a rise in crime to
the deterioration of the economy.

Local Fatah and Hamas groups moved quickly to fill the vacuum. Their men
now control the streets and enforce their own laws. The young men, mostly
in their mid-20s, have become the de facto rulers of Tulkarm; according to
some residents, even PA security forces are afraid of the gunmen.

In the past three weeks, Fatah gunmen from the Aksa Martyrs Brigades
kidnapped and executed two women suspected of collaborating with Israel.
One of the victims, Ikhlas Khouli, was a widow and a mother of seven.

A senior police official in the city said he does not have PA approval to
take measures against the militiamen.

"A 20-year-old thug with a pistol has more power than I do," the official
complained. "People here have no respect for us because they see that we
cannot offer them any help. The occupation is to blame for this chaos,
because they [Israel] virtually destroyed all the PA institutions here,
including the police stations and the prison."

Confiscation of the marijuana plants has revived hopes that police are
finally resuming their work. Residents have been forced to ask militiamen
to resolve disputes and punish criminals.

Abu Zeid said that crime has been on the rise in the city ever since the
IDF began its West Bank military offensive last April.

He said criminals have exploited the curfews. "Each time the IDF imposes a
curfew, thieves raid an office or an institution and steal computers and
valuable items," he said. "Several schools and colleges have been targeted."

Abu Zeid said this has led to a rise in drug trafficking in Tulkarm and
throughout the West Bank. He threatened to take severe measures against
criminals.

Ironically, it was one of the sons of Tulkarm, Abdel Baset Odeh, who
triggered the IDF operation in April. Odeh blew himself up in the Park
Hotel in Netanya, killing 29 people and wounding dozens.

His father and brothers are being blamed by many residents and PA officials
for what has happened to Tulkarm since then. One of the suicide bomber's
brothers has complained that the family is being ostracized and harassed by
neighbors who say it's all their son's fault.