Israeli police have begun the process of handing over control to the new Palestinian police force, which will be responsible for law and order in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.
The handover of at least some responsibilities began Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord for implementing self-rule in Gaza and Jericho.
In Gaza on Thursday, Israeli squad cars set out on patrol with two officers — a veteran Israeli who will soon be leaving the beat, and a rookie Palestinian learning the ropes.
Meanwhile, during a visit to Druse residents on the Golan Heights on Thursday, Israeli President Ezer Weizman had sharp words for Syria, which earlier this week rejected Israeli proposals for a phased withdrawal from the Golan as a means for restarting the deadlocked negotiations with Damascus.
If Syria sets impossible terms for peace with Israel, that is Damascus’s problem, not Jerusalem’s, Weizman said.
He argued that Israel is an established, sovereign state of some 5 million people, adding that Syria should treat Israel with the respect it deserved.
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