Strategic Motives behind Israel’s Smuggling Its Weapons to Palestinians

Israeli official sources confirmed that Tel Aviv encourages smuggling weapons to the Palestinian territories by any means because it is the only one to benefit from the presence of illegal weapons there and because these weapons are an ideal method for liquidating them through an inter- Palestinian infighting.

This is clearly illustrated through observing the latest incidents in which the death toll due to the inter-Palestinian clashes between Fatah  and the Islamic resistance movement Hamas reached more than a hundred deathe in addition to hundreds of wounded elements in less than one single month.

New strategic studies published later in 2006 proved that Israel is considered an important source of smuggling weapons in many countries all over the world, and that it has a considerably leading position among the weapon exporting countries, as its revenues reach billions of dollars.

The policy of smuggling and selling weapons is economically and commercially motivated, but the main target of its sellers is mainly profit and fortune, regardless of who will use these weapons, or the moral targets or the political motives of those taking them.

The most important markets dealing with Israeli weapons include some African countries and some Latin American and hot spots in countries witnessing bloody conflicts like Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and Iraq.
Israel justified its responsibility for arming the Palestinians by saying it aims at building the Palestinian security services to implement Oslo agreements.

Other Methods

But researches proved that there are other methods for circulating Israeli weapons, including smuggling and the black market in Israel, something acknowledged by leaders of the Palestinian organizations and factions, specially those who don’t recognize Oslo agreements.

The Israeli army camps are considered a permanent source for circulating Israeli weapons, as gangs launch holdups on weapons cashes, and accordingly market explosives, ammunitions, and missiles with tempting prices and a huge margin of profit.

Also, the weapons are spread in the Palestinian arena due to smuggling operations through Egypt, Jordan, Al Naqb and the Dead Sea as the smuggling gangs carry out operations that include weapons, drugs and prostitutes, and increasing these operations is helped by the long Israeli borders with Egypt and Jordan, more than 200 km.

Trade Centers
The city of Nablus is considered a center of weapon trade; this trade is also spread in Hebron, Al Naqb and along the borders with the Jordan Valley. The Egyptian and Jordanian and may be Israeli governments can’t stop the continuous smuggling operations, because establishing security fences and barbed wire may cost up to $300 billion.

This huge sum of money prevents Israel from carrying out this project because it has other priorities like the conflict with Iran and Syria.

Israeli journalist Arnoun says that smuggling weapons to the Palestinians started from the 1990s after Oslo agreement and it developed after the case of Gan Raz, a longtime guard of the ex- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who had a close link with Sabra And Shatila massacre; he became increasingly active in this field after he retired from the army, due to his experience and his relations.

Al-Raz was in charge of a weapons cache; in 2004, he was arrested on charge of killing a manager of a weapons cache in a kibbutz, and the weapons stored in the cache were smuggled to The West Bank, specially in Nablus, and were used in military operations.

The pictures of these weapons appeared in more than one video tape and it was proved that Al Raz was the one who killed the officer to smuggle them and he admitted doing this.

A Jordanian security source told Aljazeera.net that Israel smuggles weapons secretly and organizes an advanced trade through well-known organizations and responsible authorities; however, these weapons are smuggled through Israeli mediators.

Israel aims, through this, at achieving economic targets, huge profits and creating a state of chaos, enmity and rebellion among Palestinians; this target is also applied on Arab countries that want to possess weapons from any source, specially Syria, Iraq and Somalia.

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