Grassroots Arab support for Bin Laden continues to cause problems for the Palestinian Authority, and in fact, PA police have reacted so forcefully that they killed six Palestinians in Gaza over the past two days - three in clashes on Monday, and three more yesterday.
Thousands of Palestinian students and others have demonstrated against the American offensive in Afghanistan since Monday, and large posters of Bin Laden were displayed at the funeral of a Hevron terrorist today. The PLO temporarily closed at least two colleges in Gaza in an attempt to halt the rallies, and, to prevent coverage of the pro-Bin Laden rallies from reaching the West, has also ordered all foreign journalists out of Gaza.
PLO officials turned to Israel with a request for riot-control equipment, but Prime Minister Sharon said that Israel would not supply any type of weapons to the PA. The Rabin-Peres governments transferred thousands of weapons to the PA in the early years of the Oslo Agreements.
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that Israel refuses to give riot-control equipment to the PA - for fear that the equipment will later be used against Israel. \"In 1991,\" Huberman said, \"during the Gulf War, the Supreme Court ruled that Israel must distribute gas masks not only to Israeli citizens but also to Palestinians. Then later, during violent Arab riots against Israel, they wore those very same masks when our soldiers used tear gas against them [thus enabling them to continue the attacks]. In addition, Israel has no interest in making it easier for Arafat to put down the support for Bin Laden, which would again make him appear to be the good guy in the international effort against Bin Laden. Officially, the PA refuses to take sides regarding the American offensive. But they keep trying to separate themselves from Bin Laden, and were not happy with his statement that he would not sit quietly until every Palestinian child can live quietly; they try to emphasize at every opportunity that while Bin Laden is a bona-fide terrorist, their struggle is a legitimate one…\"
Israel, for its part, does not distinguish between types of terrorism, and Prime Minister Sharon has said often that Arafat is Israel\'s Bin Laden.
Thousands of Palestinian students and others have demonstrated against the American offensive in Afghanistan since Monday, and large posters of Bin Laden were displayed at the funeral of a Hevron terrorist today. The PLO temporarily closed at least two colleges in Gaza in an attempt to halt the rallies, and, to prevent coverage of the pro-Bin Laden rallies from reaching the West, has also ordered all foreign journalists out of Gaza.
PLO officials turned to Israel with a request for riot-control equipment, but Prime Minister Sharon said that Israel would not supply any type of weapons to the PA. The Rabin-Peres governments transferred thousands of weapons to the PA in the early years of the Oslo Agreements.
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that Israel refuses to give riot-control equipment to the PA - for fear that the equipment will later be used against Israel. \"In 1991,\" Huberman said, \"during the Gulf War, the Supreme Court ruled that Israel must distribute gas masks not only to Israeli citizens but also to Palestinians. Then later, during violent Arab riots against Israel, they wore those very same masks when our soldiers used tear gas against them [thus enabling them to continue the attacks]. In addition, Israel has no interest in making it easier for Arafat to put down the support for Bin Laden, which would again make him appear to be the good guy in the international effort against Bin Laden. Officially, the PA refuses to take sides regarding the American offensive. But they keep trying to separate themselves from Bin Laden, and were not happy with his statement that he would not sit quietly until every Palestinian child can live quietly; they try to emphasize at every opportunity that while Bin Laden is a bona-fide terrorist, their struggle is a legitimate one…\"
Israel, for its part, does not distinguish between types of terrorism, and Prime Minister Sharon has said often that Arafat is Israel\'s Bin Laden.