PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas meeting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch at his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Thursday. (AP)
excerpts...
On Wednesday, the security cabinet authorized a plan put forward by the American security coordinator in the territories, General Keith Dayton, to bolster Palestinian security forces loyal to Abbas in the Gaza Strip.
However, this authorization was only in principle, and Israel has yet to give a green light for either the delivery of additional arms to Abbas or the entry into Gaza of the Badr Brigade, a Palestine Liberation Organization force currently stationed in Jordan.
The question of how to bolster Abbas was also at the center of a meeting of Quartet representatives in London last week. The participants - representing the U.S., European Union, Russia and the UN - discussed the implementation of three existing accords: a November 2005 agreement on the Gaza border crossings, the Sharm al-Sheikh understandings of February 2005, and the road map peace plan.
They agreed that Israel should be asked to allow expanded operations at the Rafah and Karni crossings into Gaza, and also to enable free passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel will also be asked to remove the checkpoints that impede the free flow of traffic in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, the British government is promoting a plan to bypass Hamas and strengthen the PA by bolstering four institutions directly answerable to Abbas: the border crossings authority, the monetary authority, the presidential guard and the legal system. Norway, for its part, is calling a conference of PA donor countries.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas meeting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch at his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Thursday. (AP)
I'm just stunned to think we would even CONSIDER giving ANY kind of weapons to ANY terrorist groups!
Wait a minute, I thought the Bush Admin. wanted fair democratic elections in the Palestian areas. Now that they have voted in Hamas, with the help of the US, now they are subverting the election? I'm confused. I guess in a democracy, if you don't get the vote you want you just work around it. Good thing we are a Republic and not a democracy, right?