Posted on 11/14/2004 1:03:12 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is preparing with European allies to help the Palestinian Authority organize January elections and improve its security forces to crack down on terrorism, U.S. officials and diplomats said on Sunday.
The immediate priority, they said, is getting funding, monitors and technical assistance to the Palestinians for the Jan. 9 presidential elections to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat, who died last week.
President Bush is reconsidering redirecting millions of dollars in U.S. funding to nongovernmental organizations to help prepare for the elections and provide other support. As much as $75 million already is in the pipeline for Palestinian programs, and a portion of that could be used for the elections, congressional aides said.
Bush could also waive existing congressional restrictions and provide U.S. aid directly to the Palestinians.
The United States also is pressing Israel for steps that would make the elections easier to hold elections, such as pulling Israeli security forces back from certain Palestinian population centers, officials said.
"He (Bush) needs to get the army of Israel out and send civilian observers in order to see true, genuine, fair elections taking place," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told CNN.
He urged the United States and the Europeans to send nongovernmental organizations and teams of election observers "immediately to the West Bank and Gaza in order to help us."
The presence of Israeli forces, and whether Israel will allow Palestinian voting in East Jerusalem, could dominate talks in Washington on Monday between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
CASH-STRAPPED
Besides election preparations, plans being drawn up by the Bush administration and its European allies are expected to include a new assessment of how to help Palestinians' reconstruction and development. The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority could receive money from a World Bank trust fund -- and from some countries directly -- as reforms are implemented, according to officials and documents.
Officials said the effort would be spearheaded through the Middle East mediation "Quartet," which is made up of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. The group, which produced a faltering peace "road map," could meet as early as Nov. 22-23, officials said.
Washington and its partners in Middle East peace efforts are considering asking the U.N. Security Council to back Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said last week the plan will help jump-start negotiations on the so-called "road map" for peace.
Blair said on Sunday it would be "premature at the moment" for Bush to appoint a special envoy to the Middle East, though he held out hope of convening an international conference.
Blair also told NBC's "Meet the Press" that international help to build up Palestinian security was essential. "Without that robust security infrastructure, you're not going to make progress," Blair told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Blair said that he did not envision American troops working directly with the Palestinian Authority on security. He said those details would be worked out later.
The Quartet's latest draft "action plan" -- a copy of which was obtained by Reuters -- calls for an oversight committee led by the United States to assist "in restructuring and retraining of Palestinian security services" with help from Egypt.
"It's going to be difficult. There's a lot of negotiating to do," Blair said of efforts to revive the road map.
Ping.
That's just great. Let's all get together and pay the PLO to start blowing up Israelis again! We live in a mad, mad world.
Ah yes, the new leaders of the Palestinians need to establish their own numbered Swiss accounts so our tax dollars can flow properly into them. We will have peace when each Palestinian has his own account funded by US taxpayers.
Let them get the money from Suhu., Sunu. Sulu, whatever her name is.
Unbelievable. Why don't they take some of the money back that Arafat stole and use that? It won't matter how much money we given them. They will complain and blow us up anyway.
Arafat was worth $2,000,000,000 and people are getting excited about $75,000,000. Am I missing something?
Ridiculous. Time to retrieve the millions of US taxpayer money from Suha, and find the swiss bank account.
I do not want one dime more of my money going to these murderers.
Cash strapped my butt.
And we have no minds...
So the Bush administration is still promoting the delusion that the PA "security forces" actually work in opposition to terrorists?
Yeah, that's what I wanna see.
The Palistinian Security Forces crack down on themselves.
I wish I were so "cash strapped". I would be the 10th richest man in the world!
HEY PRESIDENT BUSH...DO NOT SEND ONE DAMN PENNY OF MY TAXES TO THE "PALESTINIANS" UNTIL EVERY DROP OF THE BILLIONS IN "AID" STOLEN BY YASSER ARAFAT IS RECOVERED!!
FREEZE THEIR ACCOUNTS
ARREST THEIR "LEADERS" AND THREATEN THEM WITH PROSECUTION
WHATEVER IT TAKES...JUST GET THAT MONEY, AND TAKE IT FROM HIS FAT PIG OF A WIFE TOO!
The $75Mil is a mere drop in the bucket in comparison to the $Billions Arafat had squirreled away. The most serious relief program would entail seeing to it that these monies actually to to where they were intended this time.
I blame those who gave him such huge amounts of cash with no apparent strings attached more than Arafat himself, especially when considering what he did with it [e.g. suicide bombings].
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