The conflict between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his Hamas rivals is spurring an arms race.

Western security officials say Abbas’s bodyguards have new anti-tank rockets concealed in backpacks. His headquarters is now guarded by four U.S.-made armored vehicles.

Israeli security says Abbas is “arming himself for a confrontation with his rivals.” In return, Hamas is buying bullets and M-16 rifles at a highly inflated price. A gun that cost $5,400 a year ago is $13,000 today.

But how does Hamas make these purchases? With the Palestinians under heavy economic sanctions, where is the money needed for bullets and weapons coming from? The answer shows the problem with the Israeli strategy: “Hamas has been able to smuggle weapons and tens of millions of dollars and euros through the Egyptian border with Gaza” (Reuters, June 8). Consider that. Israel’s enemies are only able to effectively wage an arms race because Israel decided to pull out of the Gaza Strip last year.

Before Israel withdrew from Gaza, the June 2004Trumpet warned: “Israel’s giving up land has never appeased its enemies, because they are not interested in minor concessions: They want the nation of Israel as a whole destroyed—pushed off that bright golden sand right into the sea.”

What effect should we expect if Israel pulls out of the West Bank, leaving Jerusalem itself open to its enemies? We must face the fact that there is a Palestinian contingent that will be satisfied with nothing less than its end goal: the total destruction of Israel.