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Palestinian masked gunmen of the Ahmed Abu Alrish Brigades, a terrorist group with ties to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, and part of Palestinian "security forces", which say they are short on weapons for the pullout. (AP)
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07/31
Haaretz |
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners July 31, 2005 |
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Despite a recently released independent report indicating that the Palestinian "security forces" are low on weapons and other resources, but high on corruption, the PA requested more arms from the U.S. and Israel, allegedly to "ensure a quiet disengagement". In the meantime, Israeli security forces will commence talks with their Palestinian counterparts on Tuesday, to ascertain how best to coordinate during the pullout.
The report, issued last week, found that Palestinian forces are poorly armed, overstaffed and corrupt.
The report did not hamper one Palestinian official from asking the U.S. and Israel to supply the forces with additional weapons.
"Having proper equipment will enable us to do our job in a better way, and a lack of ammunition and arms will weaken our capacity," Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, who claimed the forces are woefully ill-equipped in all major areas, including arms, ammunition, transportation and communications, pleaded their case.
Khoussa added that the Palestinians have devised a detailed plan for maintaining calm during the withdrawal, and the shortage of arms will not prevent forces from carrying out the plan.
"We are planning to take control of Gaza after the withdrawal to ensure a smooth and quiet and safe withdrawal, even if we have to use clubs," he said, adding that all security forces will be on "high alert" during the withdrawal. "The entire security apparatus will be involved in ensuring a safe withdrawal," he said.
Israeli defense officials, in fear that the weapons could be used against Israeli targets (as has happened in the past) say they are considering the Palestinian requests, but haven't made any decisions.
Dov Weisglass, a top aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was set to travel to Washington later Saturday for meetings with Rice, though Israeli officials said the arms issue wouldn't be on the agenda.
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, raised pressure on Israel to step up cooperation with the Palestinians.
Israel and Palestinian Authority security officers will embark on a series of meetings on Tuesday, about the disengagement.
Palestinian officials said that the general meetings held thus far between Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef would be translated into talks on specifics regarding the transfer of the settlements and the surrounding areas to the Palestinians following the evacuation.
The AP contributed to this report.
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