- Olmert Government to Transfer 50 Armored Vehicles to Fatah
- Cheney: 'U.S. Will Never Pressure Israel to Risk Its Security
Olmert Government to Transfer 50 Armored Vehicles to Fatah
(IsraelNN.com) 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.
An additional 25 will be supplied if the first shipment is "properly used," Israeli officials said.
Russia has been attempting to transfer the vehicles to the PA for several months, but until Thursday's meeting Israel had refused to permit the transfer. Israel's permission for such transfers is required by the Oslo agreements. PA sources said that Israel had opposed the transfer because of the PA and Russia's insistence that automatic weapons be installed on the vehicles. Israel agreed to permit the delivery after Russia agreed to ship the vehicles without the weapons.
MKs have criticized the proposal ever since it first cropped up last year. Many pointed out that all the armor and weapons supplied to Fatah in Gaza found their way to Hamas after the Islamist group decided to take over the rea.
"The prime minister will be personally responsible for each Jew that will be harmed [from the PA's use of the vehicles against Jews], and he will be put on trial for crimes against the Jewish people," MK Aryeh Eldad (NU-NRP) warned.
Legal Forum: Vehicle Transfer Repeat of Old Mistakes
In a statement issued Saturday night, the Land of Israel Legal Forum said that the transfer of 25 armored vehicles to the Palestinian Authority was a "repeat of old mistakes," giving weapons to the PA that would eventually end up being used against Israelis.
"It stands to reason that the weapon used by the terrorist who killed the students in Mercaz Harav Yeshiva was transferred to the PA by Israel. Now the government is giving terrorists the ability to safely transport terrorists" in the armored vehicles to be transferred to the PA.
AND OF COURSE THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CHENEY, DOES IT NOW??? (DS)
Olmert Continues Talks with PA Despite Fatah-Hamas Ties
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's senior negotiators are to meet again with counterparts in the Palestinian Authority (PA) this week despite his vows to break off negotiations if Fatah, which leads the PA, tries to forge a pact with Hamas. Yemini mediators have been meeting with representatives of the rival factions, who broke off cooperation after the Hamas military takeover of Gaza last June.
The following month, Prime Minister Olmert warned Abbas, "Any renewed cooperation between Fatah and Hamas will be, from our point of view, a breakdown of the political process."
Last August, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told European Union (EU) leaders it would be a terrible mistake to try to bring about a Hamas-Fatah agreement. "I know that it looks tempting and I know that the international community is eager to see a kind of an understanding between Hamas and Fatah, [but] this is wrong. This is a mistake. Big mistake. Huge," she said.
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