Kassam Rockets Are Being Manufactured In The West Bank Too

The PA has just handed Israel a Kassam, in...um good faith:

Palestinian security forces have handed over to Israel a Qassam rocket manufactured in the West bank, Army Radio reported on Monday.

So far the homemade Qassams, which have a range of a few kilometers, have only been fired at Israel from the Gaza, sometimes hitting towns like Sderot but often landing in empty desert.

But such a rocket fired from the West Bank could easily strike one of Israel's most densely populated areas.


The handover has been viewed as a sign of increasingly close cooperation between the Palestinian and Israel security establishments, despite a continuing freeze in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

This is a far cry from the attitude Abbas had in December 2005, before the Hamas coup sent him and Fatah running to the West Bank:

Abbas even said that the Qassam rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel are "Israel's problem" and that he does not intend to interfere. "Let the Israelis deal with it," he said.

While it is nice to see him handling the situation in this case, the fact that Palestinian terrorists are able to assemble rockets on the West Bank as well is not reassuring. It will take more than one instance of handing over a Kassam to really prove that Fatah has both the will and the way to control the situation.

Technorati Tag: Fatah.