Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met today with the IDF Bedouin desert patrol unit that lost four soldiers in yesterday’s assault on the “Africa” outpost near Gaza. At the conclusion of the meeting, Ben-Eliezer told reporters that it is possible that the recent easing of restrictions on Arab residents in PLO-controlled areas, such as the greater freedom of movement in southern Gaza, “may have contributed to this assault.” Despite that, the Defense Minister said that he is considering easing restrictions on the Arabs even more, “but the party delaying the measures is the Palestinians themselves.”