Israel to provide PNA with 700 rifles

Ramallah: In what has been called a confidence building gesture, the Israeli occupation will provide the West Bank-based Palestinian security apparatus with 700 new rifles.

Israeli Radio and the Yedoit Ahranout daily announced the move quoting senior officials from the Israeli government headquarters.

The Israeli sources said the rifles would be handed over to the Palestinians security apparatus before the visit by US President Barack Obama to Israel and the Palestinian Territories scheduled for March 20.

Palestinian security sources said the Palestinian security apparatus in the West Bank had been in urgent need of new rifles and ammunition for a long time. The sources said the issue had been addressed with the Israelis who refused to discuss the matter. The Palestinians proposed that they were ready to arrange for the arms from some neighbouring Arab countries but Israel rejected that proposal as well.

Israeli Radio and Yedoit Ahranout said several confidence building measures were discussed in meetings a week ago in Washington between Israeli and Palestinians officials, with US Secretary of State, John Kerry in attendance.

Saeb Erekat, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), categorically rejected calling the steps “confidence building measures”, and said it was Israeli commitments that the occupier had an obligation to fulfil.

“Israel is trying to misrepresent those actions,” he said in an official statement.

Erekat said a halt to Israeli colonial activities, the release of Palestinian prisoners, the reopening of institutions in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli military redeployment in Zone C to make it like Zone A where the Palestinian will have total security and administrative control and the total cancellation of the Civil Administration are all Israeli commitments which should be fulfilled.

“Israel had the opportunity to implement all those measures a long time ago but it has failed so far to do that,” he said. “The international community should address the issue of the implementation of Israeli commitments, not confidence building measures. This expression is strictly rejected from the Palestinian perspective.”