President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Israel for permission to bring Palestinian forces based in Jordan to the West Bank to try to shore up his control after Hamas's Gaza take-over, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
Abbas met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, seeking support for the emergency government he appointed in the occupied West Bank after dismissing a unity cabinet led by Hamas.
"The Palestinians put in a request yesterday to transfer the Badr Brigade from Jordan to the West Bank," a senior Israeli government official told Reuters. "It is being evaluated and a decision will be made soon."
Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, was non-committal on the Palestinian request, saying: "It's being evaluated but nothing more ... It's being checked." Abbas's prime minister, Salam Fayyad, would neither confirm nor deny any plans to deploy Badr. He told Reuters in the West Bank: "I cannot really comment on that for the time being." Israel wants Abbas to do more to rein in militants and has been considering providing his forces with additional weapons.