PA Offensive Capabilities Increasing, With US Help 17:58 Oct 31, '06 / 9 Cheshvan 5767 by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

Fatah terrorists are receiving US arms and training, while Hamas terrorists are preparing missile and anti-tank divisions.

Speaking before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, the IDF Southern Command chief warned that the Palestinian Authority's ruling Hamas organization is planning to establish missile and anti-tank units. The new units were decided upon in light of the lessons Hamas learned from the Hizbullah's successes against Israel during the recent war in Lebanon, the IDF commander explained.

"Hamas is establishing an organized division with a capability against tanks and with missiles that could reach threatening distances," Major General Yoav Galant told the Knesset committee.

Anti-tank missiles caused about a third of the IDF casualties in Lebanon during the recent campaign against the Hizbullah. Military analysts, as well as Hamas propagandists and strategists, have noted that long-range missiles of the type used by Hizbullah deployed in Judea, Samaria and Gaza would place many Israeli strategic facilities in danger.

In an initiative presented as an effort to counter the growing strength and influence of Hamas, the United States has been arming and training a militia affiliated with the Fatah terrorist group, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The premise for the American support is that Fatah and Hamas are headed for a violent civil war, and the US prefers a Fatah victory.

According to security analyst Aluf Benn, American security coordinator General Keith Dayton appeared before representatives of the Quartet in London last week, presenting them with a program for training the PA's presidential guard - Force 17, controlled by Abbas - using Egyptian, British and Jordanian instructors. PA sources say the training by Americans started more than a month ago, at a compound near the Intercontinental Hotel in Jericho.

In the past, official PA militias were found to have used weapons provided by the US and Israel in terrorist attacks on Jewish targets.

Earlier this month, in an interview with WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein, a Force 17 terrorist implied that weapons supplied to Fatah from the United States would be transferred to the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which is recognized as a terrorist organization under US law.