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U.S. Helps Palestinians Build Security Force

[New York Times] Ethan Bronner - In Jericho on the West Bank, a U.S.-sponsored training base for Palestinian security forces has an air-conditioned mess where aluminum glints from every kitchen surface. Rows of Land Rovers stand by. The entrance reads "The Presidential Guard, Always in Front: Strength, Sacrifice, Redemption." "These guys now feel like they're on a winning team, that they are building a Palestinian state," said Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the American who has been overseeing the training of Palestinian forces. "And I wouldn't stay if I didn't think they were going to do it." Gen. Dayton was due to end his three-year assignment, but Middle East envoy George Mitchell asked him to stay on for two more years. In coordination with Israeli defense officials, Palestinian troops and police officers have taken over much of the patrolling in the West Bank cities of Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem and parts of Hebron. Israeli defense officials say that the development of the Palestinian security forces is a real step forward and that the more the Palestinians do in the West Bank, the less Israel will do. But the Israelis also said that if they did not carry out their night raids on Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists in the West Bank, the area would be a lot less stable.
2009-02-27 06:00:00
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