Jenin: A model for the West bank?

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By Heather Sharp BBC News, Jenin

Training and a boost in numbers has helped the Palestinian forces take control

Sirens blare as four patrol cars crammed with khaki-clad Palestinian security men speed through the streets of central Jenin.

Milling locals look up briefly, before turning their attention back to shopping for the weekend.

This is the new normality in a town previously dubbed the Martyrs' Capital because of the stream of suicide bombers it supplied during the intifada, or uprising, that started in 2000.

A year ago, this Palestinian militants' stronghold was widely considered a no-go area for foreigners.

Now it is a key stop on the itineraries of international dignitaries - most recently US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who called it a "place of hope".

Under internationally-funded Palestinian Authority (PA) reforms, newly equipped and trained security forces have retaken the streets from the gunmen who used to roam with impunity.

This whole hype about investments in Jenin - I don't buy it... no-one in their right mind will invest in a very unstable situation Nasser Abu FarhaPalestinian businessman

Outside funding has been poured in to upgrade roads and hospitals, and Israel has eased its crippling regime of checkpoints that previously choked the town.

While there is little tangible progress in the 2007 Annapolis peace talks, international Middle East envoy Tony Blair has spoken of Jenin as a model for building a Palestinian state "from the ground up".

"There was no security, no law, no institutions. On the streets were law-breakers, gangs and illegal arms," says local Palestinian National Security Forces commander Col Radi Asedeh.

"[The town is] now like a plane that was hijacked and then freed," he says.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) say the Palestinian forces have done a "good job" on law and order.

Young people who are unemployed can easily become desperate and security can't stop a desperate person. Who can stop someone who wants to die? Col Radi AsedehPalestinian National Security Forces commander in Jenin <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7751924.stm">After Annapolis: Still talking</a><a class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7746905.stm">In figures: Since Annapolis</a> And human rights groups say PA forces have arrested many suspected members of their rival faction, Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

But the IDF continues carrying out, albeit with reduced frequency, incursions into the town to target militants. Officials say Israelis still face "many threats" from the area.

Col Asadeh says that despite much-touted Israeli-Palestinian security co-operation, Israeli operations still take place without warning, and complains that he has not yet been granted permission to bring in armoured cars and flak jackets for his men.

Many former militants have, however, laid down their weapons voluntarily.

Militant amnesty

In the PA's local headquarters, three former members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group sit watching television in a small bare room crammed with four metal beds.

They are among some 350 men across the West Bank, mainly allied to PA President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, who have renounced violence under an amnesty programme agreed with Israel.

An incongruous mix of photos of friends killed in the conflict, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and hand-written love poetry adorn the walls.

Fromer militants talks about why they chose to lay down their guns

The men say that they were initially told they would be removed from Israel's wanted list if they stayed there for three months.

But 18 months later they are still waiting, and say the Israelis have arrested 10 of their friends who did, finally, receive pardons.

The Israeli military could not comment on the specific cases, but said some pardoned militants had gone back to violence.

When asked if they have killed anyone, the men say "there is no answer to that question".

But Khomeini Abu Amera, 29, says that while "the gun got us to a certain stage", he believes the political process is "going bear the fruit of the phase of the gun".

He is clearly glad to have left behind a life in hiding where "you're waiting for death at any moment".

But he says nothing much has changed in the town: "There are still no jobs, nothing to do."

'No jobs, no money'

And this is evident in Jenin refugee camp. A former centre of militant activity, the camp saw some of the intifada's fiercest fighting, during which a swathe of its buildings were razed.

Vegetable seller Nasser Hamad, 45, flicks through the day's list of customers who have bought on credit.

Many of Nasser Hamad's customers are short of money and buy on credit

Since the intifada, he says, the camp's residents have not been allowed to cross into Israel where many previously worked as labourers.

"Now they're just sitting at home, with no jobs, so there's no money coming in. What's the meaning of this security campaign? They just targeted stolen cars, seized some weapons and took illegal vendors off the street - and that's it."

High-profile efforts to kick-start the region's devastated economy, ranging from investment conferences to the re-opening of the road to nearby Nablus, are taking time to bring tangible change.

Nasser Abu Farha, director of Canaan Fair Trade, exudes optimism as he shows off the brand new olive press in his plant on the outskirts of Jenin.

Raised locally, he returned after 23 years in the US in 2004 and invested more than $1m of his own money in the business, which exports high-end oil and products like tapenade and sun-dried tomatoes to the West.

Many of Jenin refugee camp's residents remain unemployed

But he stresses he is a "social entrepreneur", driven by a commitment to improving lives.

"This whole hype about investments in Jenin - I don't buy it," he says.

"If it's purely economics, no-one in their right mind will invest in a very unstable situation, regardless of all the promises - they've promised us before."

He says Israeli movement restrictions across the West Bank are the biggest barrier to productivity - although the Israeli military says it is removing checkpoints as fast as the security situation permits.

Col Asedeh shares his frustration. The people can't eat security, he points out, and without economic progress on the ground the gains his forces have made may not last:

"Young people who are unemployed can easily become desperate and security can't stop a desperate person. Who can stop someone who wants to die?"

Palestinian entrepreneur Nasser Abu Farha on the need to invest in Jenin