Abu Abdullah of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades of Hamas' military wing (Gaza, June 20, 2007).
"We have no worries about running out of weapons or ammunition
thanks to your (stupid, corrupt, terrorist-supporting) American government."
Posted on 02/09/2008 3:53:26 PM PST by SJackson
US sees Palestinian forces needing billions in aid
American officials estimate billions of dollars needed to train and restructure PA security forces; only $86 million spent so far. None of funds garnered from Palestinian donor conference earmarked for security overhaul
Reuters Published: 02.09.08, 17:07 / Israel News www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3504610,00.html
Building Palestinian security forces for a future state will require a multibillion-dollar infusion of donor funds dwarfing existing commitments, according to US estimates shared with European and Israeli officials.
A Palestinian security plan backed by Washington calls for consolidating President Mahmoud Abbas' forces into a nearly 50,000-member gendarmerie that can both police civilians and rein in militants who could try to block any future peace deal.
Internal cost estimates for the overhaul, $4.2 billion to $7 billion over five years, were compiled by US security officials and their Palestinian counterparts, and recently shared with Israel and foreign diplomats, who expressed doubts that donors would produce such large sums anytime soon.
Only $86 million in funding from the United States has materialized so far to help build up Abbas's forces, which were routed from the Gaza Strip in June by Hamas Islamists who receive support from Iran and oppose the peace talks.
The funding gap highlights one of the biggest hurdles facing a US push to reach a statehood agreement.
Even if a deal is reached before US President George W. Bush leaves office next January, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed not to implement it until Abbas reins in militants, both in the West Bank, where his Fatah faction dominates, as well as in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The US Consulate in Jerusalem declined comment on the cost estimates, which a European diplomat said painted a picture of "how things might look at the end" and may be overstated.
"It shows the enormous challenge that lies ahead," a Western diplomat said of getting donors to make such large, long-term investments in Abbas's forces and creating a pension scheme to lure older commanders and fighters into retirement.
Diplomats say none of the $7.7 billion pledged to the Palestinians at a donors conference in Paris in December was earmarked for the security overhaul, though a portion could be redirected in future to meet some of the security needs.
The newly appointed US envoy for Middle East security, James Jones, is preparing a report that will assess Palestinian security needs and how to ensure any future withdrawal of Israeli troops would not create a security vacuum.
Training costs and pensions
Diplomats said the $4.2 billion to $7 billion estimate was based on the projected cost of providing Abbas's forces with the infrastructure, equipment and training they would need.
The security overhaul calls for reducing the size of Palestinian forces by about one-third. By offering retirement incentives, Abbas's government hopes to avert a backlash from Fatah's old-guard and heavily-armed clans now on the payroll.
One European diplomat compared it to decommissioning.
"It's not cheap," said another diplomat briefed on the numbers. "But the price of this end-game is not that relevant. What is important is how you get there... How many people should be paid this year? How many people should be retired this year?"
US-taxpayer money for advanced training in Jordan started arriving last fall, nearly two-and-a-half years after Washington first dispatched a team to help coordinate Palestinian security.
The first battalion -- nearly 700 US-vetted recruits -- began a four-month, $15 million course last month. The training program is projected to graduate only 2,000 of Abbas's men in 2008, Bush's timeframe for a statehood deal.
Though Middle East envoy Tony Blair declared this week that the capabilities of Abbas's forces have "significantly" improved, Israeli officials insist that they have a long way to go, citing Monday's suicide bombing in Dimona.
Telling, not asking. Perhaps they won't dissapoint, but if they do, that's the end of the checks.
Then let the EU cough it up, they love 'em.
Agreed, but when do you draw the line? This has been going on for well over 30 years (only the characters change)? When do the checks really stop?
And to think some here suggested Condi as a potential VP choice.
(shudder)
What if we just gave every Palestinian -- man, woman and child -- an AK-47 and one magazine of ammunition?
Would that help solve the problem?
Let's spend a few thousand dollars teaching them yoga and meditation instead. They need to maintain their peaceful innocence. Those mean old Israelis can keep the guns and worry about security for them. ;)
And right you are.
Where are they getting all the missiles they’re shooting at Israel - Ah food and education funds. Let the Saud’s take care of them as already proposed.
"American officials estimate billions of dollars needed to train and restructure PA security forces; only $86 million spent so far. None of funds garnered from Palestinian donor conference earmarked for security overhaul."
Lets see, "palestinians" carry automatic weapons and fire them openly in their streets. Americans may not carry fire arms openly in most states; in fact most states won't let American citizens carry fire arms at all. Just to buy a pistol or revolver an American citizen must submit to some sort of "background check" What sort of background checks are these "palestinians" subject to? And we Amercians now must supply and pay for automatic weapons for these lunatics while Americans are not even permitted to own a automatic weapon without large fees and the Federal government looking over our shoulders.
Take notice of the violent crime that now occurs in our nation against citizens; but try to pervent or protect yourself against it and your branded a criminal. It's time for a new government in my opinion.
We must live in la la land to think the repartition of Israel will result in peace. We are held back by our oil needs and in turn hold Israel back from an intolerable situation.
We (USA) must live in la la land to think the repartition of Israel will result in peace. We are held back by our oil needs and in turn hold Israel back from a permanent fix to an intolerable situation.
We’ve been down this road already. We spent a fortune training Arafat’s already well trained fighters. Arafat turned those men against Israeli women and children.
Then, within a few years they abandoned their posts and handed all their weapons, and all their files, and all their weapons over Hamas as they fled into the arms of Israelis.
The idea of trying to force, coerce or bribe change out of the Palestinian leadership is a joke. They will reform when they realize reform is the only path that will truly help them. As the west continues to lavish them with cash - and promises of billions more and talk of even billions more - there is no incentive for them to change their ways.
Abu Abdullah of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades of Hamas' military wing (Gaza, June 20, 2007).
"We have no worries about running out of weapons or ammunition
thanks to your (stupid, corrupt, terrorist-supporting) American government."
Train and “restructure”? Does that include lobotomies?
Makes Ron Paul's anti-interventionism foreign policy notions sound pretty sensible to me.
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