WORLD WATCH: "Israel Tries Less-Disruptive Tactics in West Bank," by Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal, 10-11 October 2009.

The Israelis are importing ideas from the U.S. military on counterinsurgency, it would seem:

The re-evaluation coincided with the arrival to Israel of a handful of U.S. generals with the task of bolstering peace efforts.

"The Americans brought to this region a lot of new ideas," Gen. Tivon [one of the leaders of the shift] said.

At the time, America's top commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, was having success with a classic counterinsurgency strategy called the "ink blot."

The linkage here is Gen. James Jones.

The northern West Bank city of Jenin became a test case. In 2002, at the height of the second Intifada, Jenin was a militant hub where suicide bombers plotted and launched attacks against Israel. It was the first town Israel targeted in its military offensive to reoccupy West Bank towns.

But in 2008, Israel agreed to pull back its soldiers, turn over security responsibilities to Palestinians, and lift many of the checkpoints and roadblocks that surrounded the city.

"Jones brought the idea for the Jenin project, which came directly from Petraeus in Iraq," Gen. Tivon said.

Today Jenin is quiet, militants handed in guns, and crime is down, says the article.

So COIN (counterinsurgency) tops CT (counter-terrorism) yet again! Something to think about when discussing Af-Pak.