Secretary of State Rice offers to arm Fatah

Just one week ago, on Oct. 6, The Evening Bulletin broke the story that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, during her Middle East sojourn, had met with and encouraged the Fatah, which sponsors the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, defined by Rice's own U.S. State Department in its annual report as one of the "terrorist groups in this region", listed as: "The AlAksa Martyrs Brigades (Fatah's militant wing)." Now it can be confirmed that Rice not only met with and encouraged Fatah, which continues to operate the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, but she offered to arm the Fatah. The New York Times reported that the U.S. proposed expanding Abbas' Force 17from 3,500 men to 6,000 as part of a $26-million plan to strengthen thePalestinian leader, while the Associated Press and Yediot Ahronot, Israel'sleading daily newspaper, also reported that new training facilities forForce 17 are slated to be set up in the West Bank town of Jericho and inGaza, at a cost of $2 million each, according to the U.S. proposal.