Giving Them Guns to Shoot Us With

Here we go again. Another proprosal is afoot to have Israel arm the PLO, this time with armored personnel carriers! Some background, courtesy of Arutz Sheva:

The acquisition of rifles and other armaments by the PA was a focal point of contention between right and left-wing groups prior to the implementation of the Oslo accords in the early 1990’s. Many right-wing groups, especially those affiliated with Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, vehemently opposed arming the PA, contending that the weapons ultimately would be used against Israelis and IDF troops.

Although they were condemned at the time, particularly by the press, of being soothsayers of doom and opponents of peace, their grim forecasts proved correct early on the in process. When Israel opened an underground tunnel in the Old City of Jerusalem to provide access to buried sections of the Western Wall in 1996, PA troops opened fire and killing numerous IDF troops.

In September 2000, after Ariel Sharon, then opposition leader, took a tour of the Temple Mount, PA forces used their weapons, much of which was provided by Israel, to launch a brutal war against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, resulting in well over one thousand deaths and thousands of injuries, over a five-year period.