Timing is everything

I like Ynet News, I really do, but there are days when the cheesy tabloid style of the online edition just cracks me up. Then there are times when I have to scratch my head and speculate if the editors have hired stringers from the Palestinian Authority to write their copy.

The operation is targeting thieves, drug dealers and even hardened criminals who talk on the cell phone while driving. During the last few days it has been evident that the presence of Palestinian police officers on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank has been reinforced. This operation is aimed at thwarting the Palestinian anarchy and improving residents' hopelessness and lack of personal security.

Palestinian police officers entered market places over the weekend and fined merchants who obstructing fair trade. In the West Bank city of Hebron, a special police unit raided an apartment where thieves who terrorized the neighborhood were staying.

Which could go a long way in explaining how clashes between Fatah and Hamas broke out during the weekend. But I marvel at the astuteness of the PA police who can distinguish between hardened criminal talking on their cell phones while driving and just your run of the mill Fatah/Hamas/Islamic Jihad operative talking while driving.

Ironically, the PA police are also going to crack down on illegal building and begin a program of home/shop demolitions within the PA. No word if Peace Now will be organizing protests or filing appeals to the Palestinian court system and Rabbis for Human Rights have yet to issue a statement on the matter.