Britain steps up aid to Palestinians

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1173948,00.html

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"Britain has embarked on a new initiative to kick-start the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The government is working behind the scenes to help the Palestinian Authority reform its security apparatus in the West Bank and Gaza, a key demand of Israel and its main ally, the US.

The British involvement is initially modest, limited to providing financial, logistical and other support on security matters to the PA. But if the pilot schemes are successful Britain intends to offer much more in the way of finance and personnel.

This would include sending security staff experienced in Northern Ireland and helping to rebuild the Palestinian security infrastructure, such as police headquarters and prisons, destroyed by the Israelis.

The initiative is being carried out by the Foreign Office at the request of Tony Blair. Negotiations and planning began last autumn and the first pilot scheme got under way last week in Ramallah, headquarters of the PA."

:)

practically promise the British parliment that he would pressure Bush to do more regarding the peace process if they went along with the Iraq War?

The Palestinian infrastructure is truly a mess and I never quite understood how the police and security infrastructure should have worked, when it was basically destroted by the Israelis.

I know the Israeli's argument -- that the PA was completely corrupt and wasn't really doing its job -- and there is some merit to that. Still, the Israeli actions didn't make a whole lot of sense considering (I think it was after Oslo), where the Israelis and Palestianian intelligence andsecurity forces actually worked together against Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Aid to the Palestianians -- both humanitarian and security is needed -- but with strict oversight. I don't think Arafat and the PA can really be trusted with the funds.