Yaalon said that the permit was given only in Ramallah, and only during the three days of mourning for Yasser Arafat.



The said "permission" amounts to the suspension of Israel's threat to consider armed Arabs as targets to be shot on sight.



Yaalon said today that the "cooperation between Israel and the PA over the past few days is the best that it has been in a long time."



Journalist David Bedein notes that the disengagement plan itself goes much further than merely allowing PA agents to bear arms. Clause 5 of the plan calls for the training and arming of PA forces so that they main "maintain law and order." The training is to be run by Israel and the United States.