MK Aryeh Eldad (NU/NRP) wrote thus to Defense Minister Ehud Barak following the report that the IDF will collect many of the weapons that the residents of Judea and Samaria carry for self defense: "When a move such as this is made along with the release of hundreds of terrorists, the deployment of Palestinian policemen in Shechem (three of whom were involved in the murder of Ido Zoldan - ed.) and the arming of these policemen with weapons, ammunition and APCs, this amounts to making the settlers fair game and sending the terror organizations a clear message that they may murder Jews."
"When all this is done against the backdrop of your announcement that you are joining the 'expulsion/compensation' plan, this amounts to blackmail. You are trying to encourage Jews to run away from Judea and Samaria and in order to prod them along you are taking away their weapons and urging terrorists to attack them," wrote Eldad.
"In this letter," Eldad wrote, "I wish to inform you that the settlers of Judea and Samaria will see you as personally responsible for any casualties among the Jews in Judea and Samaria from now on, unless you immediately put an end to the process of collecting the settlers' weapons."