The political leadership, against the advice of the IDF, is allowing the Palestinians to receive 50 armored vehicles from Russia for use in the West Bank. The final barrier—mounting machine guns on them—has been dropped by the Palestinians. No doubt at a future date, they’ll get Russian assistance in adding machine guns to the vehicles, and we will see them used against IDF forces at some point in the future.
Palestinians have received Israeli permission to import 50 Russian-made armored personnel carriers into the West Bank next month, after resolving a dispute with Israel over arming the vehicles, the top Palestinian security official said Thursday.
Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya said the Palestinians dropped a request to mount machine guns on the vehicles, clearing the way for the deal to proceed. Israel objected to the guns. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The arrival of the vehicles would be the latest step in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to impose law and order in the West Bank.
[…] Al-Yahya said his forces have made important strides, confiscating weapons from Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants and reining in the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed group linked to Abbas’ Fatah movement.
“The situation now is much better, but we still need more weapons to enhance our forces,” he said. “No one will be allowed to possess weapons besides the security forces.”
It should be noted that the weapons given to the PA and stored in Gaza have all been taken over by Hamas, who did thank the Americans and Israelis for them. I imagine there’s a bit of celebrating going on at Hamas HQ today, because they know those 50 armored vehicles will be theirs in a matter of, oh, months, probably.