The Palestinian Authority deployed dozens of security forces in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem on Tuesday in a bid to curb lawlessness and violence, security officials said. Uniformed, armed policemen fanned out across this city of 50,000 in the north of the occupied West Bank.
"This campaign aims to maintain law and order," Lieutenant Colonel Suleiman Qandil, the official charged with implementing the plan, told AFP. "Every wanted person will be arrested and all illegal arms will be collected," he said.
The deployment follows a similar operation, widely seen as successful, in the nearby city of Nablus in November and comes amid renewed peace talks with Israel.
The plan is not being carried out with the coordination of the Israeli army and the military has refused to provide guarantees that it will not enter the city, Suleiman said.
Since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 and Israeli operations which weakened Palestinian security services, criminal gangs have ruled the streets in several West Bank cities, creating a climate of chaos.
Israel and the Palestinians last week formally relaunched peace negotiations after a seven-year hiatus at an international conference sponsored by the United States and held in the US city of Annapolis, Maryland.
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