From the article:
The plan to issue permits to certain Palestinian policemen to carry weapons in the West Bank now appears to be consigned to the deep freeze. Last Thursday it was an instruction of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, but is now to be reviewed as the enthusiasm of all involved has slumped.
A right-wing ruckus has paid off and the deliberate confusion it created between guns the Palestinians already have that need only Israeli agreement to wear in public, and the rifles the Rabin government allowed for the Palestinian forces, succeeded.
<SNIP>
A cartoon this week in a Palestinian press summed it up, showing a PA security officer chasing a Tanzim activist, trying to hit him with a radio antenna. The disbursement of guns was supposed to help undermine the argument that the security forces don't have the means to deal with the armed gangs. <SNIP>
Full article
here.
PB