When Arafat and company launched terror attacks against Israel is destroyed an economic partnership that had lead to great advances for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Israel's booming economy had great labor demands that were met by Palestinians, and the entrepreneurial energies of the Palestinians came to the forefront as businesses boomed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Now..the Palestinains are again selling their labor — this time as terrorists. Haaretz reports:

Fatah is now vying with Islamic Jihad for the title of the leading perpetrator of attacks in recent weeks. Thus far, however, it is sticking to attacks in the territories and eschewing attacks inside Israel.

IDF sources said that the main reason for Fatah's growing involvement in attacks was its operatives' fear that the new Hamas—led government would not be able to continue paying the approximately 70,000 members of the PA security services, most of whom are Fatah personnel. Perpetrating attacks against Israel enables these operatives to be paid instead by either Islamic Jihad's headquarters in Damascus or Hezbollah in Beirut.

Ed Lasky   3 17 06