General Dayton Praises P.A. Security Forces as "Founders of a Palestinian State"

Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, U.S. Security Coordinator for the Israel-Palestinian Authority, recently praised P.A. security forces as being "founders of a Palestinian state" Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu wrote in Israel National News:

"As I look at you, I couldn't be more proud of the fact that you stepped up to be the founders of a Palestinian state," U.S. Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton told a battalion in his speech to the troops Monday in Tulkarm. Dayton is responsible for the military training of the PA special forces. The statement was reported by the Reuters news service.

The American government has spent tens of millions of dollars outfitting the PA troops, which it calls "special forces," possibly in order to avoid contradicting the Oslo Accords that limit military activities of the PA. Dayton has been overseeing their training, which takes place in Jordan and at a base built in Jericho with U.S. funds. Weapons for the "special forces" are provided by Arab countries, with Israeli approval.

The Olmert administration also approved a gift of armored personnel carriers from Russia with the stipulation that they be unarmed. In addition, Russia had wanted to hand over two helicopters to the PA as well.

Dayton told Reuters that the Obama administration plans to expand the training program for 1,500 more PA troops, creating three more battalions, in the next 12 months. Dayton already has supervised the training of 1,600 troops, most of whom are deployed in large PA-controlled Arab cities, including Jenin, Shechem and Hevron.

Despite their presence, the IDF continues to carry out the task of arresting terrorists, particularly at night when the PA forces do not operate.

"If it goes the way the administration has asked for, we will accelerate dramatically what we are doing here in terms of training and equipment, and filling in the gaps in between," Dayton said during his visit in Tulkarm, located almost adjacent to the Judea-Samaria separation barrier and only a few miles east of Netanya.