Israel's military will stop allowing Palestinian security forces in the West Bank to carry weapons in public within the next 24 hours, the army chief told the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday. Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon said security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah would be allowed to carry their weapons openly until later Sunday, when the three-day mourning period for Yasser Arafat ends, meeting participants said. Israeli and Palestinian security commanders will hold a coordination meeting later Sunday, Yaalon told the ministers. Both sides were concerned that chaos at Arafat's funeral Friday could erupt into disarray in the entire West Bank and spark a wave of anti-Israeli attacks, he said.
Sunday's meeting will continue the talks between the security officials held late Thursday, Yaalon said, according to the participants. Israel allowed the carrying of the weapons in the meeting as a goodwill gesture. "We established coordination on the night before of a kind that we haven't had in a long time," Yaalon was quoted as saying. |