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Thursday, August 2, 2007
While Rice praises PA Israel reveals only half of gunmen handed in weapons in amnesty deal despite promise

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Its that damn reality again.

Secretary of State Rice praises "moderate" PA leader Abbas and wants to
march Israel down the gangplank while pouring more weapons into the PA as
she proclaims that she knows the Palestinian street is "moderate" and wants
peace and then...

And then there is reality.

The guns haven't been collected - these gunmen don't even go through the
motions of handing in one of their spare guns.

As for "moderation" of the street. The polls of the Palestinian public
shows that they don't want the guns to be handed over and other polls show
that they are the most radical of Moslem populations

GLOBAL OPINION TRENDS 2002-2007:
47-Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey
http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/257.pdf
From 2007 survey:
Q.72 ASK MUSLIMS ONLY: Some people think that suicide bombing and other
forms of violence against civilian targets are justified in order to defend
Islam from its enemies. Other people believe that, no matter what the
reason, this kind of violence is never justified. Do you personally feel
that this kind of violence is often justified to defend Islam, sometimes
justified, rarely justified, or never justified?
Often: 3% Sometimes: 13% Rarely: 9% Never: 56% DK: 19% Turkey
Often: 2% Sometimes: 6% Rarely: 43% Never: 40% DK: 9% Egypt
Often: 6% Sometimes: 17% Rarely: 27% Never: 42% DK: 8% Jordan
Often: 9% Sometimes: 12% Rarely: 7% Never: 69% DK: 4% Kuwait
Often: 9% Sometimes: 25% Rarely: 20% Never: 46% DK: 1% Lebanon
Often: 6% Sometimes: 5% Rarely: 9% Never: 69% DK: 12% Morocco
Often: 41% Sometimes: 29% Rarely: 11% Never: 6% DK: 12% Palestinian
Authority ]
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Amnesty deal for wanted Fatah gunmen in jeopardy - PA official
Talks between Israeli, Palestinian representatives have run into
difficulties due to Israel's insistence not to expand list of pardoned
al-Aqsa gunmen, PA security official says
Ali Waked Published: 08.02.07, 11:10 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3432885,00.html

"The agreement according to which Israel will stop chasing dozens of wanted
Fatah gunmen in the West Bank if they agree to disarm is on the brink of
collapse," a senior Palestinian security source told Ynet on Thursday.

According to him, talks between representatives for both sides have run into
difficulties due to Israel's insistence not to expand the list of gunmen
eligible for amnesty under the deal.

As published by Ynet in mid-July, Israel and the Palestinian Authority
agreed on the granting of amnesty to 178 wanted activists affiliated with
the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's military wing in the West Bank.

According to the deal, the pardoned Fatah members will be permitted to join
the Palestinian security services but will be prohibited from carrying arms.

However, the source said Israel complained to the Palestinians that some of
those included on the list have yet to commit to laying down their arms and
refrain from conducting any terror activity.

According to the security official, Israel claimed that half of the Fatah
members on the list have not handed in their weapons to the Palestinian
security forces. He confirmed that some gunmen have in fact refused to
disarm.

"The activists said that laying down their arms - even if Israel lives up to
its end of the bargain - would leave them exposed to acts of revenge by
(Palestinian) collaborators or their families," the security official said.

According to him, some activists purchased their rifles for tens of
thousands of shekels and are now demanding full compensation.

"I hope that in the next few days we will solve the problems and collect all
of the weapons so that we may discuss (with Israel) the transfer of West
Bank towns to our control," the official told Ynet, adding that the PA plans
to allocate additional funds toward reimbursing activists who return their
weapons.

Meanwhile, a senior al-Aqsa member not included in the amnesty deal told
Ynet that if the list of pardoned gunmen would not be expanded, his men
would not see themselves obligated to maintain the calm.

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