'Palestinians ordered halt to incitement'
The Palestinian Authority has already ordered a series of reforms crucial to reviving the peace process, such as calling for an end to incitement against Israel, an official says
TEL AVIV - The Palestinian Authority has directed its Education Ministry to stop using hostile terminology against Israel, although it is unclear whether the policy was implemented, the coordinator of operations in the Palestinian territories told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday.
Maj-Gen Yosef Mishlav also said sermons at Palestinian mosques are reviewed in advance by the Palestinian Preventive Security forces.
Israel has maintained that a halt to incitement is crucial to moving the peace process forward. It is also part of a series of demands the Palestinians must carry out as detailed in a U.S.-backed peace "road map".
Mishlav also noted things were looking up in the Palestinian economy and said Palestinian laborers should be permitted to work in Israel shortly after Israel withdraws from Gaza for at least three more years, to help boost the Palestinian economy further and combat poverty.
Employment in Israel has become the lifeline of many Palestinians, whose economy has suffered from more than four years of violence. While the Palestinian market is slowly recovering, more than half of the Palestinian people live below the poverty line and earn about USD 2.1 a day, Meshalev said.
Overall, about 300 international organizations, including 25,000 workers, donated about USD 788 million to humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in 2003.
