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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/14/AR2008031403965.html
Palestinian Forces' Training Marred by Delays, Politics
[Washington Post] Ellen Knickmeyer and Glenn Kessler - A U.S.-funded program to train and equip Palestinian security forces is mired in delays, a shortage of resources, and differences between Israelis and the Americans over what military capabilities those forces should have once deployed in the territories. Because of Israeli concerns, the group of more than 1,000 Palestinian trainees has not been outfitted with pledged body armor or light-armored personnel carriers. The Israeli government has insisted that the Palestinian security forces be trained and equipped as a police force rather than an army that could threaten the Jewish state. U.S. contract workers and Jordanian security forces are training 600 members of the Fatah-dominated National Security Forces in a 16-week course. About 425 members of the presidential guard of Mahmoud Abbas are undergoing eight weeks of training in a desert camp one hour from Jordan's capital, Amman. In June, hundreds of Fatah graduates of a U.S.-backed, 45-day crash course conducted in Egypt were deployed against Hamas fighters in Gaza. Hamas routed the Fatah forces in five days, leaving Hamas in charge of Gaza.