Arming the Palestinian Pinochet and Building Keith Dayton's Mercenary Army

PA presses for arms shipments said needed to stave off Hamas

An Important Article

"Less than two months after Hamas tattered the rule of its rival Fatah faction in the Gaza Strip and took control of the area, the Palestinian Authority - under Fatah leader Chairman Mahmoud Abbas - is once more requesting large shipments of weapons, ammunition and armored vehicles.

This time, the PA is seeking Israel's approval for shipments from Egypt and Jordan, intended for the West Bank.....

The new Palestinian wish list includes armored cars, jeeps, machine guns, several thousand rifles plus millions of rounds, bullet-proof vests, stun grenades and additional combat gear. The PA argues that it needs weapons to preserve Fatah's rule and to deal with coup attempts by Hamas. Abbas' cabinet also cites the need to restore order in West Bank cities. The armored cars, for example, are needed for crowd dispersal.

The Palestinians are seeking to purchase the weapons from Egypt and Jordan. They are relying, among other funds, on an $80 million grant that the United States had recently granted the PA's security forces. However, the coordinated shipments require Israel's approval......

Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region, is meanwhile spearheading the American restructuring plan for the Palestinian security forces. Dayton's efforts included a recommendation to the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to initiate a significant upgrade in the training of Fatah-affiliated forces in the West Bank. He is also advocating training one of the Palestinian National Security force's battalions for crowd dispersal.

The Palestinians have offered the Americans to set up a new training base for the Palestinian National Security force in Bethlehem. The Americans, however, have reservations about the proposal, as even the current training base in Jericho is operating under a partial program.....

Israeli government officials look quite favorably on some of the Palestinians' plans for upgrading security forces in the West Bank. The defense establishment, however, is generally much more skeptical. Security officials in Israel point out that Dayton had been overconfident about Fatah's ability to stave off Hamas in the Strip until the very end of Fatah's rule there. "