Israel Matzav

Demilitarized?

If this is what they call 'demilitarized,' we have a serious problem.

The delivery of 50 Russian armored personnel carriers (pictured) to the 'Palestinian Authority' from Jordan is being held up by a dispute over equipping the APC's with 'heavy machine guns' and mounts on which to hold them. The APC's are for use by the 'Palestinian police.'

The armored vehicles were recently transferred to Jordan from Russia, which two years ago, in an attempt to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces, asked to donate the vehicles to the PA.

At the time, Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave his approval for the transfer of the vehicles but refused to authorize the Palestinians to install heavy machine guns on them.

Israeli defense officials told the Post on Monday that the vehicles arrived in Jordan recently and were slated to cross into the West Bank in the coming weeks, after the disagreement between Israel and the PA regarding the heavy machine guns was resolved.

OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni is opposed to allowing the Palestinians to obtain the machine guns out of concern that they will be used against the IDF. The Palestinians claim that they need the guns to effectively crack down on Hamas throughout the West Bank.

...

In a demilitarized state, Defense Ministry officials and IDF sources said that Israel would not allow the Palestinians to obtain mortars, rockets or anti-tank missiles.

"We will allow them to have a force with light weapons like the one that the US is currently building for them in the West Bank," one official said in reference to the training of Palestinian battalions that US Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton is overseeing in Jordan. Last week, the Post reported that Congress had approved $109 million for the continued training of the battalions.

"We will not allow them to have a military that puts Israel in danger," the official continued. "That is why we said yes to armored vehicles but will say no to tanks and to mortars."

While the IDF has voiced opposition to the transfer of heavy machine guns, the defense official said it was possible Israel would allow the Palestinians to acquire such weapons at a later stage and if the crackdown on Hamas - demonstrated by last week's operations in Kalkilya - continued.

I want to remind those of you who might have forgotten about Israel's experience with supplying weapons to the 'Palestinian Authority.' Between 1994 and 2000, Israel provided weapons to the 'Palestinian Authority' and carried out joint patrols with the 'Palestinians' in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. When Yasser Arafat that it was time for the 'Palestinians' to resort to violence, he orchestrated the use of those weapons against Israelis. The first instance of such use was the murder of an IDF soldier by the 'Palestinian policeman' who was his partner in a joint patrol.

'Nuff said.

Please, let's not go back to utopian delusions of the post-Oslo period. You know what they say: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:59 AM