OF COURSE CUTTING-EDGE MILITARY TECH ENDED UP IN HAMAS HANDS

Weapons given to Fatah end up in terrorist hands. This has been a demonstrably true statement for the better part of a decade. Either the Fatah people become terrorists, or they give the weapons to terrorists, or the terrorists hijack the weapons en route after fortuitously guessing the time and place of the delivery. And now this:

Hamas gunmen completed the conquest of the main building of the headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, long associated with Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan, as additional bastions of Fatah support fell to the Islamist forces. Hamas seized the vehicles and weapons in the compound, wrapping up a broad sweep which has almost completely vanquished the forces of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Don't give invaluable resources to people who are likely to be overthrown by radical forces. This is not a radical proposition. The post-Sinai weapons transfers to Egypt were a mistake because Egypt is one disgruntled general away from being the most dangerous country in the Middle East - don't compound the error by giving them nuclear technology. This is not an isolated example - experiences with Syria and Lebanon - to say nothing of pre-Islamist Iran - are almost entirely one-sided on this issue. The fantasy of "bolstering moderate forces" by giving them arms and concessions has never worked. At best it just paints them as Western stooges. Far more often it provides bait for their overthrow.

[Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric]