Jenin Rescue

Israeli government officials are thrilled at the PA's rescue of an IDF officer from a Palestinian mob:

"The Palestinian crowd surrounded the Israeli military officer who had taken a wrong turn and found himself lost in the West Bank city of Jenin, a place whose name is synonymous with bad blood between Israelis and Palestinians.

"Palestinian security officers pushed past people tossing rocks and bottles and shouting 'kill him,' grabbed the Israeli, and hustled him off to the safety of their headquarters, where he was given some coffee and a phone to call his commanding officer."

It's far from clear, however, whether Palestinians support Abbas's government in its cooperation with Israel:

"How much support this one event has among Palestinians is debatable. Security sources in Jenin said that after the dramatic turn of events in Jenin, renegade members of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, which were supposed to disarm this summer, were engaged in gun battles with the PA. Members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad decried the events as cooperation with the occupation. Many Palestinians complained that the Israeli army is still making deadly incursions into Jenin, despite promises to stop."

And while Abbas may be earning trust from Israel, it sounds like Palestinians don't see the favor as being returned:

"Ghassan Khatib, head of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC), says Palestinians are upset at the lack of improvements in daily life, such as in removing checkpoints and easing travel restrictions. 'We Palestinians have learned to judge things on a practical basis,' he says. 'When we look at practices on the ground, we don't see change. While these [summit] meetings seem to give the impression the situation is improving, there's a disconnect between the reality and the image.'"