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IDF: PA Security Forces "Have Plenty of Weapons"

(Israel Government Press Office/IMRA) Lt.-Col. Daniel Beaudoin, Head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Foreign Relations Branch, said in a briefing on Tuesday: "Regarding the collecting of weapons...it's an EU effort to strengthen the Palestinian police force. They are here in full force, the EU, and they have police advisers in the field actually trying to educate the Palestinians to handle the weapons that are in the field in a responsible manner....If the Oslo accords allow 20,000 weapons for the PA force in the Gaza Strip, we reckon that there are close to 40,000 in the field. I'm not talking about militant groups and terrorist groups. I'm talking about the security forces, the preventive security forces and the police forces....You have plenty of weapons in the field." "There is a complete lack of organizational preparedness. They've been so busy trying to blow us up for the last 30 years and they haven't been putting enough effort into trying to find some sort of way of building a viable system. And this is our expectation for the future....The Europeans are coming to the Palestinians today and are demanding transparency, not only fiscal transparency on what happens with donor money, but also security transparency....You don't make things happen by sitting around boardrooms with Hamas. It happens when you take action and this has not happened. And it's going to have to happen and I think that the international community is very encouraging on this."
2005-08-31 00:00:00
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