The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting the Palestinian faction Fatah is seeking Israel’s approval to receive large shipments of weapons, ammunition and armored vehicles from Egypt and Jordan. The Palestinian Authority argues that it needs the weapons to preserve Fatah’s rule in the West Bank over Hamas. The arms shipment will be funded in part by an $80 million grant that the Bush administration gave the Palestinian Authority security forces after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the democratically elected Hamas-led government.