Avi Dichter, chief of the Shabak (General Security Service), lectured in Tel Aviv about a month ago, but seems to have been wrong when he said,
"We have no disagreement with the Palestinians, the Egyptians, the Americans, or the Europeans that the IDF withdrawal from Gaza [undertaken at the end of June] is a test. It will be tested in 2-3 weeks when the PA has to start disarming the terror organizations - this is a critical step. The way I [see it], the army will not transfer security responsibility in Yesha towns before everyone in the world understands that the process of disarming has really begun. If it doesn't happen, then in my opinion the transfer of responsibility in Judea and Samaria will also be delayed."
Gen. (res.) Shmuel Arad, speaking with Arutz-7 today, said:
"We've become experts in closing our eyes to the reality. We have consistently ignored the PA violations, particularly in the areas of incitement and terrorism... We continue to settle for short-range quiet at the expense of dangers in the long-range. We should take no Road Map steps at all until the PA disarms the terrorists according to their Road Map obligations - for after all, we know that this process will simply blow up, with the terrorists giving one excuse or another. The process is totally asymmetrical, and we're losing all the great achievements made by the army and GSS in the past 18-24 months, such as the thousands of terrorists arrested by IDF soldiers who risked their lives to do so. If the process continues to be asymmetrical, it will simply blow up."