Gaza police say Israel blocks call for more arms
Reuters
Date: 08-01-05
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Israel has rejected a Palestinian request for more guns and ammunition to help police areas vacated under the Jewish state's planned Gaza pullout, a Palestinian police official said on Monday.
"They are still putting up obstacles and we hope that the international community and the political echelon will be able to compel Israel to allow the entry of arms and ammunition," Ala Hosni, a Palestinian police chief in Gaza, told reporters.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, countered that "Gaza is saturated with weapons", many in the hands of militant groups which a U.S.-backed peace "road map" says must be disarmed by the Palestinian Authority.
The official said Israel would consider a request for more weaponry if it were part of a "comprehensive plan to reorganise and reform (Palestinian) security services".
Israel is set to start evacuating all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank on Aug. 17 under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to "disengage" from the territory.
A Washington-based think tank said last week Palestinian security forces were in such disarray they might not be able to fill a vacuum left by Israel after the planned withdrawal
Complaining of a shortage of weapons, which he said Israel destroyed in confronting a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000, Hosni said his men would "assume their responsibility even without (more) arms".
Israel says some Palestinian police have used weapons acquired under a 1993 interim peace deal to attack Israeli civilians during the nearly five-year-old revolt.
"To say that they need more weapons is just an excuse. It's an excuse not to act (against militants). If they really intended to act they should be issuing orders to go after those with illegal weapons," the Israeli official said.
Israeli vice premier Shimon Peres, speaking on Army Radio, said he favoured enabling Egypt to supply ammunition for the Palestinian police force's Soviet-designed assault rifles.
The issue may be raised in Washington on Monday when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets a top Sharon adviser to discuss plans for a smooth withdrawal, Israeli sources said.
Rice has urged Israel to allow Palestinian security forces to better equip themselves, the sources said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who declared a ceasefire with Sharon in February, has sought to co-opt militants into the security forces and political life rather than confront them.
The Palestinians welcome Israel's first removal of settlements from land they seek for a state, but worry that Sharon may use the withdrawal to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Source
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