The New Fatah 'Soldiers' Deploy In Jenin As Rice Puts The Squeeze On Israel

The fantasy continues.

Yesterday 450 armed Fatah 'soldiers' were deployed in Jenin as the newest and best trained members of the Palestinian Authority armed security forces, courtesy of US General Keith Dayton and the American taxpayers.

This was one of the gestures mandated by the Bush Administration and agreed to by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to bolster the foundering Fatah-run PA and its capo del tutti, Arafat II Mahmoud Abbas.

The idea,of course,is that these US trained Fatah security forces will act as a force to prevent Palestinian terrorism and strengthen 'moderate' Abbas. I'm sure that these stalwart Fatah troops will give just as good an account of themselves against Hamas as they did in Gaza.

And since these forces include members of the al-Aksa Martyrs brigade,Abbas' own terrorist militia, the idea that they are somehow going to lift a finger to prevent their fellow Arabs from killing Jews is a particularly malignant fantasy. As a matter of fact,they will likely take the lead in the matter.

The last time this was tried was under Yasir Arafat, and those US trained forces and their weaponry were simply turned on Israeli civilians when the timing was right.

For that matter, the PA security forces under Abbas have already been implicated in the murders of Israeli civilians.

You'll recall that Ido Zoldan(z"l) was murdered in cold blood near Kedumim by a PA police officer. And two off-duty IDF soldiers, Ahmikam Amichai and David Rubin(z"l) were also shot to death when they were ambushed in a drive by shooting while they were hiking near Hebron on the Israeli side of the border by a couple of PA 'security' personnel,neither of whom were punished beyond a quick showcase arrest and release.

Meanwhile,Condi Rice proved the old dictum true about appeasement; given concessions totally unwarranted by the facts on the ground by the Olmert government..she wants more.

In her recent visit to Israel, Condi's emphasis was not on getting the PA to stop the non-stop incitement against Israel in its mosques, schools and media,or for the Palestinians to take meaningful steps against terrorist violence emanating form th Palestinian occupied areas of the West Bank. No, her main concern was on even more Israeli concessions 'to make life more pleasant for the Palestinians'.

The fact that what would make life more pleasant for them involves the wholesale murder or expulsion of every Jew in Israel seems to be beside the point.

Accordingly, Condi apparently let Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni know that she would be strictly monitoring the Israeli side of things and insisted on even more Israeli checkpoints being removed regardless of the security aspect for Israel.

She got her wish, as three important Israeli checkpoints were removed over the protests of the IDF:

The Beit El - Ramallah Checkpoint
One of the three is between the large PA-controlled city of Ramallah and the entry road leading to Beit El, home to nearly 7,000 Jews, including students of all ages in its various schools.

The IDF expressed strong objections to the removal of this checkpoint. IDF Central Region Commander Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni and Judea/Samaria Region Division Head Brig.-Gen. Noam Tivon explained to Barak that the removal would allow free and unhindered Arab traffic on the old north-south highway to Shechem(ff notes: AKA Nablus) - adjacent to IDF bases and homes in Beit El.

The IDF officials reminded Barak, to no avail, that shots were fired at Beit El in the past from this highway. They also told him that the nearby intersection between Ramallah and Beit El was the site of violent Arab riots when the Oslo War broke out in late 2000, and at least two separate lynchings were attempted against Jews there.
IDF Officials: Removing even one more checkpoint will lower the security level below the "red line" of risk.

"The checkpoints are a most significant factor in the war against Palestinian terrorism," a top IDF officer told Huberman, "in thwarting attacks, in catching wanted terrorists, and in intercepting weapons... The number of checkpoints in Judea and Samaria at present is the absolute minimum necessary for Israeli security. Taking off even one more will lower the security level to 'below the red line' of risk."

Northern Exit from Shechem - Open
The second critically strategic checkpoint removed by Barak's orders was Checkpoint 408, dismantled on Monday at the northern entrance to the north-Shomron city of Shechem (Nablus).

Barak told the IDF that he needed one checkpoint removed from the Shechem area, and that the IDF should choose which one. The IDF chose, as the least of the evils, the only checkpoint that is not situated on a road leading directly to a Jewish town. Thus, the Hawara checkpoint - whose removal the Palestinian Authority has long demanded - remains in place, protecting the Jews of Yitzhar and nearby towns. Similarly, the checkpoint near Shavei Shomron has not been touched.

However, the removal of the northern Shechem checkpoint effectively ends the IDF's encirclement of Shechem, which is known as one of the PA's top terrorism centers. The encirclement prevented the terrorists from leaving the city freely, and was an important factor in the decrease of Shechem-based terrorism. Terrorists can now travel freely from Shechem to Jenin via Tubas, as well as throughout most of the vast expanses of the northern Shomron.

IDF vehicles traveling east-west between Shavei Shomron and Mt. Eval will now encounter unchecked potential terrorists traveling on the north-south route, Huberman notes.

Yata-Hevron Road - Open
A third checkpoint that is about to be removed, at Barak's orders, is located just south of Hevron, at what is known as Kvasim Junction near the hostile Arab village of Yata. Though the army did not oppose the opening of this intersection, it should be remembered that in early 2003, three soldiers were murdered by terrorists who escaped to Yata via the unprotected Yata-Hevron route.

The Defense Minister gave the order to remove the checkpoints in accordance with Secretary Rice's wishes - but in defiance of clear IDF warnings that shooting attacks against Israeli citizens and soldiers are likely to be renewed as a result. Senior Central Region officers told Barak directly that checkpoint removals in the past have led to significant increases in attacks.

Anyone familiar with the facts on the ground knows that the Palestinians have no compunctions about opening fire on civilian vehicles on the roads, or using the highways to facilitate homicide bombings and attacks on Israel. The areas in question are close together and often only minutes away from each other...which is why the checkpoints exist in the first place, and why since they went into place, together with Israel's still incomplete security barrier, attacks on Israeli civilians have declined considerably.

It would make much more sense to eliminate the need for the checkpoints by leaning on Abbas to end the incitement in the Palestinian media, concentrate on creating a government that wasn't corrupt and incarcerating the al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigade terrorists on his payroll,rather than the other way around.

But that might not sit too well with some of the Bush Administration's Arab friends, so the Bush Administration is much more interested in a cosmetic diplomatic process that above all please the Saudis,for obvious reasons. When the inevitable attacks occur, the president and the Secretary of State will be the first to condemn the violence directly attributable to their actions.

Absolutely disgraceful.