Jordan Times
Friday, January 25, 2008
Jordan to train PA forces
By Hani Hazaimeh
AMMAN - Jordan has started training the first batch of Palestinian security
forces, which arrived in the country from the West Bank on Thursday, an official
source confirmed.
The official told The Jordan Times that the training is part of a “continuous
cooperation programme between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority [PA]”,
stressing that training is “restricted to typical police work, such as crime
fighting and VIP protection”.
Reuters reported earlier in the day that the battalion of nearly 700 recruits
would begin training under a US programme after nearly a yearlong delay.
Washington wants to train the backbone of a Palestinian gendarmerie but the
programme is projected to graduate only 2,000 men in 2008, the timeframe set by
US President George W. Bush for reaching an agreement on a Palestinian state.
The eventual plan is for a nearly 50,000-member police force in the West Bank,
the agency said.
Citing US government documents, the report said the four-month-long courses, at
a facility already being used to train Iraqi forces, will focus on law and order
and police training.