US Could Train, Equip Palestinian Forces

[NATO AIR]

according to Dr. Rice... this is gonna get interesting, let's just hope abbas and sharon can keep the momentum going

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/st...0128857047.htm&sc=roptz&photoid=20041116WX101

Rice: U.S. Could Help Train, Equip Palestinian Forces

By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday held out the possibility of U.S. support to train and equip Palestinian forces as she seeks to promote Middle East peace on a visit to the region next week.

Making her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Rice will meet Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Monday to try to capitalize on what Washington sees as a new chance for peace after Yasser Arafat's death.

The disputed shooting of a Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip on Monday illustrated the fragility of the relative calm since the Palestinian icon died and triggered mortar fire by Arab militants on a nearby Jewish settlement.

Rice said Arafat's successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had demonstrated the will to clamp down on violence by quickly deploying security forces in the Gaza Strip, where militant groups have adopted a tacit truce.

"It's not perfect, but they have made some progress" on getting control of the disparate Palestinian security forces and on cracking down on violence against Israelis, Rice told Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

"Obviously the Palestinians are going to need help in terms of training and equipping their new security forces and I am sure that there will be ways that we might be involved in that," she said.

Rice suggested Washington could also help the Palestinians develop democratic institutions and, eventually, support reconstruction if Israel carries through with its plan to close all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.

"What I hope to do when I go there is to try and sustain -- help to sustain -- the momentum that they (the Israelis and Palestinians) have clearly developed over the last several weeks," she added.

Abbas has revived global hope for Middle East peacemaking and he is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this month for the first summit between the sides in years.

"We have a long way to go to fully capable Palestinian security forces but there also has to be a will," she said. "I do think that Abbas showed will in acting quickly. We hope that they'll continue to act and to act more effectively over the next (several) weeks."

Rice sets off on Thursday on an eight-day trip to seven European countries as well as to Turkey, Israel and the West Bank in part to show the Bush administration's desire to focus on Middle East peace following Arafat's death.

02/02/05 01:28

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