Jerusalem – The Middle East Newsline confirms that the United States has failed to conduct a coordinated effort to improve the Palestinian Authority security forces.

The State Department has received a report that pointed to serious drawbacks in the PA security forces. They said the report by U.S. security coordinator Gen. James Jones asserted that U.S. agencies failed to coordinate aid to enhance Palestinian security.

“It’s a tough report, and much of it could remain classified,” an official said.

The Jones report, meant to review security requirements for a Palestinian state, was relayed to the Bush administration after nearly a year of intensive U.S. efforts to improve PA security forces in the West Bank.

Despite the training of more than 1,000 Palestinian officers, the report determined that the PA remained incapable of enforcing order in the the cities under control of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr. Abbas has deployed troops in such cities as Jenin and Nablus. Mr. Abbas has warned that he would withdraw the forces unless Israel halts raids of West Bank cities.

The report warned that inadequate PA security would hamper U.S. plans to establish a Palestinian state by 2009. They said the report outlined what Israel and the PA must do to meet the U.S. timetable.

The U.S. general, appointed security coordinator in November 2007, was said to have urged President George W. Bush to publish the entire report. The report was said to have been critical of the lack of coordination between Gen. Jones and Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, responsible for development of PA security forces.

The Bush administration has also appointed Lt. Gen. William Frazier to facilitate security requirements for a Palestinian state. Officials said Lt. Gen. Frazier has been monitoring Israeli and PA compliance with the so-called Roadmap, which outlined steps required for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Gen. Jones’ main task has been to reach an Israeli-PA security agreement that would enable the establishment of a Palestinian state by January 2009. They said Gen. Jones has sought to mediate PA demands for a conventional military against Israel’s position that the Palestinians must be equipped with no more than a strong police force.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2008

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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