Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the transfer of nearly 1,000 automatic rifles and some 10,000 bullets to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), local daily The Jerusalem Post reported Friday.
The approval came after the PNA requested the shipment, which it said would be used in the campaign Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is currently waging against Hamas in the West Bank, said the report.
Jordan recently facilitated the weaponry transfer to the PNA, Israeli defense officials revealed on Thursday.
Israeli defense officials expressed cautious satisfaction with the performance of the Palestinian security forces, saying that so far their activity has been mostly relegated to fighting corruption.
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials, especially in operational units working in the West Bank, expressed fear that the weapons would eventually find their way into terrorists' hands.
Transferring weapons to the Palestinians has been a hot topic since the 1990s, when U.S. weaponry was given to Palestinian forces subservient to then PNA leader Yasser Arafat in the wake of the Oslo Accords, but these weapons were later used in attacks against Israelis, said The Jerusalem Post.
Source:Xinhua
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