Senior members of Israel's defense establishment recommend Israel initiate a series of goodwill gestures to the Palestinian Authority before September. Defense Minister Ehud Barak proposed the plan in a move designed to convince Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to back down from unilateral statehood recognition at the United Nations next month. "This would be a way to get the Palestinians to understand that they have a lot to gain by working together with us, as opposed to making unilateral moves," a defense official said. Among the issues up for discussion - the removal of West Bank roadblocks, increasing the number of Palestinian workers permitted to enter Israel, issuing special permits to Israelis that would permit them to enter Palestinian areas and the possible release of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel. Another idea under consideration is to increase the number of weapons to Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.
