http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=189977By Aaron Klein
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Israeli border police officers remove a Palestinian demonstrator who was trying to block an excavator during a protest against the construction of the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of al Wallaje, near Bethlehem August 4, 2010. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)
JERUSALEM – The U.S. is pushing Israel into conceding strategic territory in the next few months despite admissions from the Palestinian Authority it is not fully ready to assume security control over the areas in question, WND has learned.
As a confidence gesture to the PA, the Obama administration has asked Israel to withdraw its forces from Area C – neighborhoods in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem where Israel maintains full security control. The PA's American-trained security forces would assume full control of those sections, according to the U.S. plan.
The gesture is part of a series of other measures the U.S. has asked of Israel in a bid to re-start direct talks with the PA. Other gestures include easing anti-terror roadblocks and checkpoints and facilitating greater movement of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
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However, in recent meetings with George Mitchell – Obama's envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – PA security chiefs admitted their forces are not yet fully ready to assume security control of Area C, according to sources familiar with the meetings.