The sources said Abbas blocked plans to consolidate PA security forces.
They cited plans to merge General Intelligence Services and the Military
Intelligence as well as the Preventive Security Apparatus. Under the plan,
the MI-GIS merger was to have taken place by 2010.
The suspension also halted the U.S. effort to train the PA National
Security Forces in Jordan. The administration of President Barack Obama had
planned to train at least five NSF battalions in a U.S.-financed police
center in 2010. Five battalions have already completed the four-month course
in the International Police Training Center outside Amman.
"People are getting their salaries, but nothing else is happening," the
source said.
The sources said U.S. security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton has
been marginalized and no longer maintained direct contact with PA security
chiefs as well as Prime Minister Salam Fayad. They said Dayton's only
interlocutor was Interior Minister Said Abu Ali.
The PA has also replaced U.S. instructors in training mid-level senior
officers in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The sources said Palestinian
officers replaced the U.S. trainers in leadership courses conducted by the
American firm DynCorp International.
"The question that is being asked in the security forces is how long can
this situation go on," the source said. "Morale is dropping rapidly."
