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Israel mulls letting PA buy arms

by Middle East Online
Report change of heart is based on US pressure to let Palestinian Authority clamp down on Hamas.
JERUSALEM - Israel will consider the Palestinian Authority buy weapons so that police can better patrol the Gaza Strip, a newspaper reported Friday.

Europe would grant funds to the Palestinian Authority to buy the weapons on condition they be used only in Gaza by police and security officers to bring order to the chaotic territory, the Yediot Aharonot daily said.

The change of heart is based on US pressure and an Israeli security assessment that the Palestinian Authority will need such arms in order to clamp down on the powerful radical Hamas organisation, the newspaper said.

Israel is likely to indicate the concession at a summit between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, paper added.

The government had been reluctant to agree to a demand from the Palestinian Authority for more weapons and ammunition after Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip in September following a 38-year occupation.

"There is a strong chance that such weapons will fall into the hands of terrorists," said a Sharon aide in late July, although Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has been more circumspect.

"It is true that Palestinian Authority weapons can be used against Israeli civilians, but we also have to take into account the danger of Hamas seizing power in Gaza after our departure," he has said.

The Palestinian Authority has complained that it lacks adequate weapons and ammunition to clamp down on powerful armed groups, but Israel has so far refused to allow it to import more arms.

On Sunday, three people were killed, including one police officer as tense relations between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas deteriorated into the first deadly internecine clashes since Israel's pullout.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14720
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