Rice plans to boost funding for Abbas forces--Palestine

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061215/pl_nm/palestinians_rice_dc

Rice plans to boost funding for Abbas forces

3 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday she would ask the U.S. Congress for tens of millions of dollars to strengthen the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.


..........

The United States wants to ensure that Abbas, whose Fatah party was trounced by Hamas in elections last January, emerges victorious in any power struggle with Hamas and has been saying for months that more needs to be done to boost his forces.

But Rice cautioned this could take some time.

"You can't build security forces overnight to deal with the kind of lawlessness that is there in Gaza which largely derives from an inability to govern," she said.

"Their (the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority) inability to govern, of course, comes from their unwillingness to meet international standards," she added.

so why not start more problems by funding one Palestinian faction and Isreal and leave the other out in the cold. I'm feeling more secure already. :sarcasm:

The administration backed Israel in Lebanon and Israel had to leave with its tail between its legs.

I'd decline the offer if I were Abbas.

NT.

...but we should NOT GET INVOLVED IN CHOOSING SIDES IF THEY'RE GOING TO FIGHT IT OUT.

but I was curious about Tempest's opinion on this.

Picking sides in this battle is in noone's best interest.

Not even Abbas'.

Especially the Palestinians. I imagine that the US is siding with the party that at least is willing to recognize the existence of Israel.

Rice isn't talking about just siding with one side, she's talking about supporting one side through financial means.

That is an open invitation for Arab countries to counter the U.S. and finance the opposition.

I would, and if for nothing else, just to get the U.S. bogged down in another prolonged engagement it can ill-afford at this time.

after Abbas got elected. Instead we made excuses to inflict more sanctions, because OMG, the Palestinian people voted for Hamas.

Please tell me we're not going to arm one side in a Palestinian civil war!

They will lose what credibility they may have with the Palestinian people. It could lead to a situation of Fatah willing to talk but the bulk of the Palestinians not willing to follow, which would then lead to more bloodshed. With Israel and the US claiming, "see we tried but they will not cooperate"