Posted on 06/25/2004 12:14:25 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
Jordan's King Abdullah (R) meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei
at Beit al-Barakeh in Amman June 24, 2004. The King said during talks with Qurei
that any steps that Jordan takes on training the Palestinian security forces, will be
done through coordination with the Palestinian National Authority, and that any
request on this issue will be through the PNA. REUTERS/Yousef Allan
Last Update: 25/06/2004 12:22
By Yoav Stern and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters
Jordan is ready to extend "all forms of support" to the Palestinians, including training police to take up security responsibilities after Israel evacuates the Gaza Strip, King Abdullah told visiting Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Thursday.
"The monarch expressed Jordan's readiness to extend all forms of support to the Palestinian people, including the rehabilitation the Palestinian security cadres," said a statement from the Royal Court after talks that involved senior officials from both sides.
Abdullah assured Qureia that "any Jordanian step for training Palestinian security forces will take place in coordination and consultation with the Palestinian Authority, and in response to its request."
He also reiterated that the planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip "should be part of the road map, lead to a full withdrawal from all Palestinian territories and the setting up of an independent Palestinian state."
Quartet supports Egypt's role in PA reforms
The Quartet of international Middle East peace brokers lent support Thursday to Egyptian pressure on the Palestinians to reform their security forces ahead of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayam published earlier in the day, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said that the various PA security agencies would be consolidated by September.
Qureia's comments came in the day after his meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman, in which Suleiman gave the Palestinians two months to carry out reforms, including the consolidation of the PA security agencies and the appointment of senior officials to assume security responsibility for the Gaza Strip.
UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told reporters after Thursday's meeting that the envoys supported Suleiman's work.
"We are giving full support to the Egyptian lead in their efforts with Israel and the Palestinians," he said.
The representatives of the Quartet, which comprises the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations, met in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba, a venue chosen in recognition of Egypt's role in working with the Palestinians.
High-level officials from Israel, Egypt, the United States and the PA will participate in a summit meeting in October in a location not yet determined, Qureia told the newspaper. European representatives may participate as well.
In the coming months, the PA will be sending 30 to 40 security officers to Egypt for six months of training, Qureia said.
Suleiman presented a detailed timetable to Israeli and Palestinian leaders Wednesday over how to secure the Gaza Strip: an overhaul of the Palestinian security forces and a cease-fire declaration by September, followed by the collection of militants' weapons and the dismantling of militant groups.
Suleiman, who met Arafat in Ramallah, said he was "very pleased" with the meeting, adding that Egyptian advisers could enter Gaza "within a few months."
An EU statement issued after the meeting said the envoys stressed "their strong support for the efforts of the Egyptian government in working with the two sides to put in place arrangements that will be critical to the success of the Israeli initiative to withdraw from Gaza."
But European Union envoy Marc Otte said Suleiman and the Palestinians needed to set a timetable for reorganizing the security forces before further talks with Israel.
"It is normal that he first look for a timetable among the Palestinians, then to go back after that to Israel to agree on their side of the bargain," he said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has also welcomed Egypt's involvement in his Gaza disengagement plan but said on Wednesday he would not allow the Egyptians to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians. Egypt is also trying to broker a total cease-fire, but Israel has said it is not ready to agree.
Egypt is demanding that Israel withdraw from all of Gaza, including the Philadelphi Route, a narrow corridor along the Egyptian border, and commit itself to fully implementing the Quartet's road map peace plan.
The Egyptian plan provides for a multinational presence in Gaza to secure the airport but Otte said it was premature to talk about such a proposal. "The Palestinians and Israelis might see that as interference," he added.
The U.S. envoy, Undersecretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns, said the Quartet would do everything it could to help Egypt but insisted that many questions remain unanswered about Sharon's plan, which requires cabinet approval at various stages.
Isn't that...
By Geoff Earle
Jordan’s King Abdullah II may get something in return for the informed advice he provided to members of Congress last week: increased U.S. aid.
Abdullah came to the Hill after conferring with President Bush last week and met with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others. He visited separately with the House and Senate appropriations committees, plus the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House International Relations Committee.
High on the king’s agenda was a pitch for increased U.S. financial aid, over and above the increase proposed by the Bush administration.
“He has made it clear in member discussions to me that it would be helpful that we provided assistance, predominantly in training,” Frist told The Hill. “But I don’t know what the requirement is.”
Asked whether Jordan would receive the aid, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) replied, “They’re very supportive of us. I would be inclined to be as supportive as possible — depending on the amount of funding.”
But Stevens said any increase “depends on the circumstances” and noted that his
panel’s Foreign Operations Subcommittee does not yet have its allocation laying out an overall spending number for the next fiscal year. The panel will most likely get an amount closely in line with the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee’s $27 billion allocation.
When asked about increased aid to Jordan, McConnell — who chairs the Foreign Operations subcommittee — replied, “I don’t know yet.”
The administration’s fiscal year 2005 request was for $250 million in economic support for Jordan and $206 million in military aid. Jordan received about the same amount in fiscal 2004, in addition to $1.1 billion in the Iraq supplemental that passed last spring. That funding was technically in 2003.
Abdullah has become a frequent confidant of President Bush on Middle East issues. His country’s location between Israel, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia puts it at the center of key policy debates in the region.
But Abdullah canceled a planned meeting with Bush this spring after the president expressed support for Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza strip. At times he has questioned the U.S. commitment to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. White House officials have denied that the snub harmed the U.S.-Jordanian relationship, and the meeting was rescheduled for last week. The United States and Jordan signed a free-trade agreement in 2001.
Although his father, King Hussein, came out against the first Gulf War, Abdullah took a more muted stance during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. He has cautioned Americans not to blame all Muslims for the actions of insurgents in Iraq, and has expressed worries about the security situation in Iraq after the handover of political sovereignty June 30.
Stevens described his meeting with Abdullah as a “general briefing,” adding that Abdullah did not make any direct requests for increased aid. “He is presenting to the administration requests for additional money,” Stevens said.
Bush said after the Sept. 11 attacks that the United States would evaluate other nations of the world based on whether they were “with or against us” in the war on terrorism. Since then, the United States led coalitions to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, while distancing itself from European opponents of the administration’s Iraq policy.
U.S. foreign assistance has gone up, with new money flowing into HIV/AIDS funding and millennium challenge accounts to aid developing countries.
But major new efforts to bolster allies based on foreign-policy considerations have been less substantial. The United States has provided aid to Pakistan, while shifting some aid to Uzbekistan and other well situated allies. Historically, the vast majority of U.S. foreign aid has gone to Israel and Egypt.
But wholesale increases in foreign aid haven’t happened, despite emerging worldwide threats, in part because of budget constraints and because of a long-standing suspicion of foreign aid among Congress and the public. “I don’t see any reason to increase foreign assistance,” said Stevens, “unless it’s the result of an agreement between our people and a foreign nation.”
Don't argue with success. Jordan has an innovative track record with maintaining order among Palestinians. Even when this sometimes involved wholesale killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, they did it in a way that the Arab world (including the Palestinians themselves) were perfectly happy.
The rub is that the Palestinian security types already know how to do what they want to do - which is to be terrorists. Which is why they're not all that interested in learning that "serve and protect" stuff.
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