The Palestinian Authority (PA) will establish a police presence in Gaza, Palestinian Arab sources told Walla! News Sunday morning, after Hamas and Fatah's renewed declaration of faith in the "unity" government was made last week.
Three thousand PA policemen will be deployed in Gaza, according to the agreement, and will guard Gaza's border area, including crossings into Israel and Egypt.
The plan has been approved in principle - not implemented in practice - sources said, noting that Israel, too, must agree for the policemen to be approved for travel between the PA and Gaza.
It is unclear whether the plan is a new proposal following the renewed unity pact, or simply a follow-up to declarations in May that would have seen 3,000 PA policemen join Gaza's security forces "on an interim basis."
A PA police presence may not increase the overall level of security in Gaza, especially after Fatah claimed that Hamas regularly refuses to let the PA govern there.
The IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) revealed last month that a large-scale coup had been planned by Hamas in Judea and Samaria to overthrow the PA and Abbas's Fatah party, in orders given from Hamas officials abroad.
The discovery calls into question the claim by several leftist MKs - as well as most of the international community, including the UN, EU, and even the US- that the PA's "government of technocrats" was impervious to Hamas terror, as well as the overall efficacy of the PA's security forces.