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Thursday, September 3, 2009     FOLLOW UPDATES ON TWITTER

Report for Congress unconvinced U.S. training of Palestinian forces is worth it

WASHINGTON — Despite numerous briefings, Congress remains skeptical of the U.S. program to train the security forces of the Palestinian Authority.   

A report by Congress expressed skepticism over the claims by U.S. security envoy Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, responsible for a program to train PA security forces. The report by the Congressional Research Service said that despite nearly two years of intensive training Congress cannot gauge the success of the program.

"Despite the successes claimed, the extent to which U.S. efforts have contributed to the PA’s competencies — which remain disputed — to establish the rule of law and to permanently and comprehensively neutralize and dismantle militant and terror networks remains unclear," the report, titled "U.S. Security Assistance to the Palestinian Authority," said.

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The report, authored by Middle East analyst Jim Zanotti and released in June 2009, said the lull in insurgency attacks in the West Bank over the last 18 months could be attributed to factors other than the U.S. and European Union security training effort. Zanotti cited Israeli operational and intelligence support as well as PA agencies that do not cooperate with the Western programs.

CRS, which has published several reports on PA security services, asserted that neither Washington or Brussels has managed to consolidate PA security forces or eliminate graft and corruption. The report warned that the training programs, attended largely by raw recruits, could fuel false hopes of the establishment of a Palestinian state over the next two years.

"Might motivating young PA security recruits through talk of a state raise the risk of negative unintended consequences by inflating expectations more than they are merited by socioeconomic and political developments?" the report asked.

Since 2005, Dayton has headed the U.S. security training program that focuses on developing the PA National Security Forces. NSF, which now numbers 7,500, was envisioned to expand to 40,000 through the training of at least 10 battalions at a U.S.-financed facility in the Jordanian International Police Training Center. So far, three NSF and one Presidential Guard battalions have completed the four-month course.

"There are questions about whether approximately 5,000 new U.S.-sponsored, JIPTC-trained NSF troops, alongside existing PA security forces, could be sufficient to maintain order and dismantle militant/terror networks in the West Bank, with its population of approximately 2.5 million," the report said.

The EU has been operating a program to develop the PA civilian police, with 7,200 personnel. The program, titled EU COPPS, has sought to train and mentor PA officers as well as establish police stations throughout the West Bank.

"Even though there are fewer extant PA security organizations, complete consolidation under civilian control remains more of an aspiration than a fact, and the 'competing fiefdoms' mentality continues," the report said. "Much of the international assistance provided still bypasses the Ministry of the Interior — although that is not the case with the USSC/INCLE program or EUPOL COPPS, which coordinate with the MoI — and is routed directly to the separate security organizations, likely including the less transparent intelligence organizations. Can the United States and other Western donors help the PA counter the institutional inertia that they appear to have helped create?"

The report urged Congress to increase oversight over the U.S. security training program for the PA. Zanotti recommended meetings with President Barack Obama, National Security Council, Defense Department State Department as well as U.S. envoy George Mitchell and Dayton to discuss future plans as well as contingencies should a Palestinian state fail to be established by 2011.

"Depending on the contingency, response options might include cessation, reduction, or suspension of all U.S. assistance or various types of assistance, expansion of various types and levels of assistance, possible continuation of security assistance exclusively through either the PA president or the PA government..." the report said.



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