 The Palestinian Authority has ruled out the prospect that it would disarm insurgency groups in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. The PA assertion came in wake of a May 2 clash between Hamas and security forces in which Egypt obtained the release of detained insurgents. Officials said Hamas and other insurgency groups demanded a pledge that the PA would not seek their arrest or weapons. "We have no intention of withdrawing weapons of resistance," Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, the director of the Preventive Security Apparatus in the Gaza Strip, said. At a news conference on Wednesday, Abu Shbak rejected Israeli calls for disarming insurgents before the handover of West Bank cities to the PA. Three West Bank cities remain under Israeli security control. |