Despite the ongoing political rift between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, security coordination between the two governments, much of it covert, remains tight in an effort to keep Iran from expanding its reach to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip through the assistance of pro-Iranian elements in those areas.
Senior Palestinian security officials told Israel Hayom that while security coordination with Israel remains tight, it is mostly covert so as not to harm either party's security interests.
A senior representative from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' office told Israel Hayom that many in the Palestinian leadership are angry with the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Ghasem Soleimani. Officials in Ramallah say Soleimani's pledge that Iran would provide Palestinian factions with funding and weapons poses a serious risk to Palestinian national security, as well as the stability of the Palestinian leadership and the region in general. Officials say Iran's meddling must therefore be stopped at any price – including through increased security cooperation with Israel.
According to the senior Palestinian security official, Iran has been increasingly meddling in Gaza and the West Bank following the entrenchment and subsequent buildup of Iranian and pro-Iranian forces in the Syrian Golan Heights and near the Jordanian border.
Another senior security official in Ramallah told Israel Hayom that Palestinian security mechanisms had recently carried out a number of arrests of pro-Iranian elements, mainly from the Islamic Jihad organization in the northern West Bank, but also of Hamas members in Hebron and the Ramallah area.
