I had a hard time understanding this:
Israel will transfer to the Palestinian Authority 25 armored vehicles from Russia for use in PA controlled areas of Judea and Samaria. Permission for the transfer was granted by the Olmert government during a high-level meeting Thursday night.
The article goes on to report that the transfer was only approved once Russia agreed not to arm the vehicles with automatic weapons.
I found this interesting.
An additional 25 will be supplied if the first shipment is “properly used,†Israeli officials said.
What are the chances of that happening? I’d guess: not very good.
Specifically, the Americans are concerned that the PA does not engage in the full spectrum of counterterrorism activities, including arrests, interrogation and trial, as it would if it were trying to eradicate the armed wings of Islamic terrorist organizations. Instead, it makes do with trying to “contain” terror – to prevent specific attacks, and to keep Hamas from growing strong enough to threaten Fatah’s rule in the West Bank.The PA security services do occasionally arrest members of Islamic organizations, but they do not then follow up with the other steps in the “chain of prevention”: interrogations, arrests of additional operatives, indictments and trials. Trials generally take place only if the PA is under external pressure, as in the case of the Palestinians who killed two off-duty soldiers out on a hike near Hebron three months ago. And when they do take place, they are generally hasty affairs.
Israel has been complaining about the lack of a “chain of prevention” for years, ever since the second intifada broke out in 2000. Now, it seems that the American monitoring team, headed by General William Fraser, has adopted Jerusalem’s position on this issue.
Security coordination between Israel and the PA has deteriorated since the terror attack on Jerusalem’s Mercaz Harav Yeshiva three weeks ago. Palestinian security officials are angry over what they view as Israel’s lack of faith in them, as reflected in its recent decision to go after four wanted terrorists in Bethlehem itself, rather than informing the Palestinians and letting them try to arrest the men. And while the PA has recently arrested several members of Islamic organizations in the northern West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service question the significance of these arrests.
So Israel has a demonstrated “lack of faith” in the Palestinian security services and yet agrees to upgrade their capabilities.
The Ha’aretz article also reports:
With regard to Israel’s obligations, the Americans recently gave both the government and the defense establishment a list of 10 questions concerning outposts, settlement construction and other issues. Associates of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been harshly critical of Jerusalem’s failure to evacuate outposts, remove roadblocks and take other measures to improve the PA’s economy, such as establishing industrial parks along the seam between Israel and the West Bank.
Those industrial parks are nice idea, but though they worked well in Gaza for awhile, they are now shut down. The success of the industrial parks will depend on the will of the Palestinians to live in peace with Israel.
And despite the way the American demands are presented, as reported last year, they are not without risks. Indeed.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
