American firms selected by the the U.S. administration will advise the Palestinian Authority on the organization, training and equipment of its security forces, according to Jacob Walles, American consul general in Jerusalem.
The U.S. diplomat added that the American security assistance will be carried out in consultation with the U.S. security coordinator in the territories, General Keith Dayton. Walles said that the U.S. sees a considerable improvement in the performance of the Palestinian security forces.
The consul also said that U.S. President George W. Bush is asking Congress to approve $400 million in new aid for the Palestinian Authority in addition to the $77 million in security assistance that has already been approved.
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Jacob Walles told Palestinian journalists of the new request in a meeting. The allocation comes as preparations are underway for a Mideast conference, called by Bush for later this year, aimed at restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The United States and Israel have been showing support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate who is in a struggle with the violent Islamic Hamas. In June, Hamas overran the Gaza Strip, defeating security forces loyal to Abbas. In response, Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led Palestinian government and named a new one with his backers.
That leaves Hamas in control of Gaza and Abbas' new government in charge of the West Bank - opening the way for the West to resume aid cut off after Hamas won an election in 2006 and took power.
Walles said $200 million of the new aid would be aimed at the private
sector and infrastructure, $150 million for budget support and $25 million each for security and refugees, and humanitarian aid that will be transfered to the Gaza Strip through the UN's refugee relief agency, UNRWA.
The allocation would help counter a huge deficit in the Palestinian budget that followed the Western aid cutoff. Foreign aid covers about half of the Palestinian Authority's operating budget.
The consul general expressed the hope that Congress would approve the aid package.
On Monday in Gaza, several thousand people attended a Hamas rally, where Hamas lawmaker Mushir Masri told the crowd that Hamas is using arms supplied by the U.S. and Israel.
"Hamas militants are fighting you with the weapons that you gave to the (pro-Abbas) security agencies," he said.
Since 1993, when Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accord was signed, The U.S. has given $1.7 billion in aid to the Palestinians, according to the USAid Internet Web site
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