ARMS SURRENDER FARCE

Our World: The joke's on us by CAROLINE GLICK (JPost)
'It's all a joke. It's just a joke." That's how the Palestinian terror commanders in Judea and Samaria explained the show they made of handing in their weapons to Fatah commander Mahmoud Abbas's official militias over the weekend.

"This is all a big joke," they told reporters while posing for pictures. "Abbas asked us to sign a declaration saying we won't attack Israel and so we are." And why not? The Palestinian Authority Chairman agreed to pay them thousands of dollars in exchange for the photo opportunities. There is also the non-financial incentive. In exchange for their propaganda photos and their signatures on declarations not to engage in terror anymore, Israel has pledged to take these murderers off of its wanted list. So just for participating in a satire, these men get to walk without fear for the first time in years.

The deal between Prime Minister Olmert and Abbas claims that 178 members of Fatah's Aksa Martyrs' Brigades terror organization will hand in their weapons and pledge to stop being terrorists. From now on the only Palestinians in Judea and Samaria who will bear arms will be members of Abbas's "official" security forces. But since most of these men are already members of those official militias, and the rest are set to be commissioned in short order, the deal has no impact on any of them.

'Palestinians' paid thousands in arms surrender farce (JNW)
Scoffing could be heard throughout the Palestinian Authority areas Sunday and Monday as dozens of wanted Fatah terrorists relinquished their weapons in return for tens of thousands of dollars, and a clean bill of health from Israel.

The arrangement was approved by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who Saturday night signed an agreement granting amnesty to 180 men on Israel's wanted list.

Opposition Knesset members slammed the plan as a "mixture of criminal spin and plain stupidity."

In accordance with the deal, a terrorist who handed in an M-16 rifle received $15,000, while an AK-47 was "surrendered" for $3750. Smaller guns earned their owners up to $6,000. The money paid to these killers came from donations made to the PA by the international community.

Apart from the dollars, the men who had been wanted - some for years - for their acts of criminal violence against Israeli Jews were free to come out of hiding and bask in the embrace of their people.

And a week after paying this "price" for their sins, the agreement stipulates that these terrorists will be "integrated" into the Palestinian Authority's "security forces" and issued with weapons to replace the ones they just surrendered for cash.