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U.S. Security Aid to the PA
(Al Jazeera) Alaa Tartir - U.S. aid to Palestinians, averaging $400 million a year since 2008, has mostly been allocated to the PA's security sector. Half of Palestinian public sector civil servants are employed in security. According to a recent unpublished report by the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), there are 83,276 security sector personnel in the West Bank and Gaza, a very high number per capita by all international standards. The PA, mainly drawing on international aid, spent almost a third of its total 2014 budget on security ($1 billion). According to the DCAF report, the PA has 232 brigadier-generals and Hamas has 80. In comparison, the U.S. Army has 410 brigadier-generals in total. This skewed proportion of high-ranking and highly compensated officers makes no sense.