Two thousand AK-47 automatic rifles, 20,000 magazines and two million rounds of ammunition. This is Ehud Olmert's Christmas present to P.A. Chairman Mahmoud 'Abbas' troops in the Gaza Strip. In addition to his approval of this arms shipment by Egypt Israel's Prime Minister has a bag full of goodies for the Palestinians including the release of prisoners and an ongoing policy of restraint in the face of continuous rocket attacks against Sderot. The goodwill gesture of arming Fatah forces so they can (hopefully) use the weapons against radical opposition was tried before in 1994. The Oslo Agreement permitted 7,000 guns to enter Gaza and Israeli right wing groups chanted the slogan "Don't hand them guns!" We know how it ended.
It now seems more likely to fund the ongoing civil war in Gaza. Can both sides loose?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz | Dec 30, 2006 at 14:09