Biden administration transfers armored vehicles to Palestinian Authority

The hope is that the PA will use them against terrorist forces that threaten its control as well as Israelis’ safety.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The United States recently sent armored personnel carriers (APCs) and weapons to the Palestinian Authority (PA) with Israel’s permission, according to a Monday report in the Palestinian Al-Quds news site.

According to its sources, they were transferred to the PA through the mediation of Jordan, in order to help “enforce law and order and strengthen the capabilities of the Palestinian security mechanisms in the confrontation with the armed units in Jenin and Nablus (Shechem).”

The exact number of APCs and advanced weapons, which Jewish news aggregator JDN reported as consisting of laser sight-equipped automatic guns, was not mentioned.

PA control in these two major cities has been tenuous, especially in the last year.

Disgusted by PA corruption, large portions of their residents by now openly identify with its Islamic, Iran-backed rivals – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – which aim to overthrow the ruling Fatah faction.

Even Israel’s current right-wing government believes that this would not be in the country’s security interests, as Ramallah still maintains some security coordination with Jerusalem, while these groups only call for Israel’s destruction.

Another reason for Israel to allow the Americans to supply the PA with advanced weapons is that the PA also helps Israel when it fights against Hamas and the PIJ.

These groups have been behind much of the latest wave of terrorism Israel has been suffering through, with over a thousand attacks and 29 dead since the beginning of the year.

Specifically Jenin and Nablus have been major bases for planning and carrying out such attacks against Israelis in the region, and the IDF went into Jenin in a massive, two-day operation in early July to uproot its terror infrastructure.

The PA then began to reassert its authority by arresting dozens of Hamas and PIJ activists, a move that was bitterly decried by the groups’ leaders.

According to Al Quds, PA President Mahmoud Abbas also recently ordered his security heads to hit the terror cells that challenge his authority “with an iron fist.”

Abbas has also tried using carrots as well as sticks to regain popularity. After the IDF incursion in July, called Operation Home and Garden, he briefly visited Jenin for the first time in years to laud the Palestinians who had clashed with the Israeli forces and promise aid to rebuild the areas the IDF had destroyed.