Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority's fleet of U.S.-supplied, gas-guzzling security vehicles has become idle.
The PA security forces have received 145 Ford pickup trucks from the United States. But the trucks have been languishing in a parking lot in the West Bank town of Jericho.
"We don't have the money to pay for gasoline," a PA security source said.
The source said the vehicles, acquired through U.S. security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, contained eight cylinder engines. The PA has determined that the engines consume an inordinate amount of fuel.
"It costs 40 shekels [$12] to drive six kilometers," the source said. "We don't have that kind of money."
The source said the PA has raised the issue with Dayton. The general, who helped supply most of the new equipment for PA security forces, was said to have pledged to examine alternatives.
On Sept. 10, another U.S. security coordinator, Gen. James Jones, began talks in Israel on security requirements to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Jones was scheduled to meet Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak as well as PA officials to determine whether the Bush administration could accelerate plans to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank by January 2009.
Officials said this would probably be Jones's last visit as security coordinator. The general, appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was said to have expressed frustration over lack of progress in meeting the U.S. deadline.