GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian police are creating new community ties and beefing up security in the West Bank by deploying the force's first mobile station to Area C.

“This station aims to reach communities that are too far from police stations in the cities in Area C," Jabir Tamizi, the mobile unit's director, told Al-Monitor. "These villages and towns do not have any Palestinian police stations because they fall under Israeli control by virtue of the 1993 Oslo Accord." The station is entering these areas in coordination with Israel, he noted.

Tamizi explained that citizens in Area C must resort to Palestinian police stations in Area A and Area B under Palestinian Authority (PA) control, while police coordinate with Israeli authorities to obtain access for limited hours to Area C to conduct investigations and arrest fugitives.

“However, this mobile police station can spend a full day in any village or town located in Area C in coordination with the Israeli authorities, to receive complaints from its residents and relieve them of the burden of going to the Palestinian police stations in Area A and Area B,” Tamizi said, pointing out that the mobile station will support the 10 fixed police stations in Hebron governorate, in Areas A and B in Hebron.