[R-G] Second Palestinian battalion begins U.S.-funded training

[Anthony Fenton]

Second Palestinian battalion begins U.S.-funded training
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080918/wl_nm/palestinians_israel_troops_dc
Thu Sep 18, 11:20 AM ET

ALLENBY BRIDGE, West Bank (Reuters) - About 500 members of a security  
force loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crossed into Jordan  
on Thursday for U.S. funded training, the second such battalion to do  
so.

Washington wants to train the backbone of a Palestinian gendarmerie  
that would underpin any future state.

The battalion from Abbas's National Security Force will undergo  
training for four months in police tactics, riot control and human  
rights, officials said.

An official at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge, between the  
occupied West Bank and Jordan, said the battalion crossed without  
incident.

It is the second battalion from the NSF to undergo U.S.-funded  
training, part of the Bush administration's push for an Israeli- 
Palestinian peace deal this year. The other battalion returned to the  
West Bank in late May.

The U.S. training program has fuelled tensions between Abbas's secular  
Fatah faction and the Hamas Islamist group, which seized control of  
the Gaza Strip last year.

Washington provides non-lethal equipment to Abbas's forces. Arab  
allies provide guns and ammunition with Israeli consent.

U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials assert that Hamas receives  
security equipment and training from Iran and other Islamist allies.

The training is conducted by Jordanian police at the Jordanian  
International Police Training Centre near Amman.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas launched statehood talks  
last November with the goal of reaching a deal this year but the talks  
have shown little progress.

Olmert, poised to step down as premier following his party's election  
of a new leader on Wednesday, has insisted that a Palestinian state  
will not be established until Abbas regains control of the Gaza Strip  
from Hamas and reins in militants in the West Bank, where his  
government is based.

(Reporting by Adam Entous)