Jordan Times
Friday, June 25, 2004
Jordan ready to train Palestinians — King
AMMAN (JT) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday reiterated that Jordan was
ready to train Palestinian security forces.
King Abdullah told visiting Palestinian Prime
Minister Ahmed Qureia that the Kingdom was prepared to help train Palestinian
police and security services “in line with an official request from the
Palestinian Authority [PA],” the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Qureia said the PA formally asked Jordan to help rebuild and organise
Palestinian security forces in cooperation with Egypt.
The premier added that he made a similar request to Egypt as the Palestinians
prepare to assume control of the Gaza Strip after a planned Israeli withdrawal
by end-2005.
King Abdullah and Qureia met at midday to discuss security measures for the Gaza
Strip after the pullout. Both reaffirmed that a Gaza pullout should take place
under the framework of the roadmap peace plan.
Support from Cairo and Amman to “break the stalemate” in Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks was also sought, according to the prime minister. Qureia later
briefed Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher on his talks Wednesday with Egyptian
intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, and Cairo's efforts to help avoid a power
vacuum after an Israeli pullout.
Muasher told the Jordan Television that the Kingdom and Egypt will coordinate
their efforts with the PA.
“King Abdullah was very clear that Jordan is ready to fulfil all the wishes of
the Palestinian Authority,” he said.
Palestinian Charge d'Affaires Atallah Khairy told Agence France-Presse that
around “5,000 Palestinian policemen and security forces staff” have already
received training in Jordan since the 1994 launch of Palestinian autonomy.
A group is currently in the Kingdom for a training course, he said. “There are
regular courses being conducted in Jordan as part of cooperation plans between
the two parties,” Khairy added.
“There is an agreement to train a larger number in the near future,” to prepare
the Palestinians to take control of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank,
he said.
Egypt has offered to send up to 200 personnel to Gaza, which was under Egyptian
administration before Israel seized the territory in 1967, to train a
30,000-strong Palestinian force to maintain security.