JERUSALEM [MENL] -- Israel has assessed that the Palestinian Authority has deployed at least double the amount of weapons allowed under a 1995 accord in what could lead to anarchy in the Gaza Strip in 2006.

Israeli officials said that according to a military assessment the Palestinian Authority has accumulated far more weapons than that allowed under the accords signed with Israel. They said PA security forces have about 40,000 weapons, double the number stipulated in bilateral agreements, and this could be used to fuel internecine strife as well as war against Israel within six months.

"If the Oslo Accords allow 20,000 weapons for the PA force in the Gaza Strip, we reckon that there are close to 40,000 in the field," Lt. Col. Daniel Beaudoin, a senior officer at Coordinator of Government Activities in the Gaza Strip, said. "I'm not talking about militant groups and terrorist groups. I'm talking about the security forces, the Preventive Security Forces and the police forces."