The Aksa Martyrs' Brigades group announced on Sunday that it its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons to be used against Israel.The Palestinians are playing a very deadly game, one that they cannot hope to win. However, they know that they can inflict massive damage on Israel regardless of what Israel does in return - and that would be good enough.
In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said the weapons were the result of an effort that has lasted for three years.
The statment was a response to an Israeli Security Cabinet decision to give the IDF the green light to prepare all the forces necessary for a military operation against Gaza terror cells.
As of 9:00 p.m. a large contingency of Golani and Givati Brigade infantry troops, along with elite units, were amassing on the Israeli side of the Gaza security fence for a possible ground operation there to rescue kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
According to the statement, the first of its kind, the group managed to manufacture and develop at least 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons.
The group said its members would not hesitate to add the new weapons to long-range rockets that are being fired at Israeli communities almost every day. It also threatened to use the weapons against IDF soldiers if Israel carried out its threats to invade the Gaza Strip.
Do I need to go through all the international laws that the Palestinians are violating - from the Oslo and Wye Accords on down?
Not that international law matters very much to the Palestinian terror groups running the show in Gaza and the West Bank under PA control. They will strike at Israel at the first opportunity.
Ed Morrissey wonders just how coincidential the acquisition process began by the Palestinians and the fall of Iraq in 2003.
The question will be where they acquired these weapons. They do not have the research facilities to have developed WMD on their own. If they actually do possess them, it seems a probablility that someone supplied Fatah with WMD.UPDATE:
Who has WMD? What country stocked them, until three years ago? And where does Hamas and Islamic Jihad, at least, have themselves established? Syria -- who has long rumored to have received the Iraqi stockpiles in 2002 and 2003, just ahead of the American invasion.
The Palestinians have just tipped us off to where the WMD went, and now we know where at least some it may have ended up. The Israelis may not be alone in marching through Gaza and the West Bank.
Others noting that the Palestinians have announced their possession of WMD: Liberty and Justice, Dalen Amos, The Muslim Question, and The Tone Cluster.
Israel is preparing for major combat operations in order to rescue the kidnapped Israeli soldier taken by Hamas at the checkpoint outside Gaza earlier today.
UPDATE:
Partisan Times has a good roundup of reaction and wonders why the Palestinians, who aren't particularly known for restraint, would suddenly claim WMD possession. Good question. It is possible that the Palestinians are bluffing, so as to at least give the IDF second thoughts about going into Gaza in a big way to terminate the terrorist groups.
Dan Riehl thinks that this might be an IDF misinformation campaign to provide pretext for going into Gaza in a big way The problem with that argument is see Iraq vis a vis US from 2003 on. There are also questions if the Palestinians did obtain WMD - that is only good if they're going to use it, and the usage would result in a catastrophic response.
Also blogging, Hyscience and Outside the Beltway.
Technorati: wmd, terrorists, palestinians, abu mazen, al aqsa martyr's brigade.
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