The United States has proposed a USD 20 million plan to boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' personal security force and upgrade the main cargo crossing between Gaza and Israel, American officials said Thursday.
The plan is being worked out by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator in the West Bank and Gaza, and was discussed during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's meeting with Abbas on Wednesday, the officials said.
The plan is part of a larger US effort to bolster Abbas, a political moderate who is in a power struggle with the Islamic Hamas group.
Hamas defeated Abbas' Fatah Party in legislative elections this year and formed a government. Some branches of the security forces are under the control of the interior minister from Hamas, while others are under Abbas' control.
The US plan would provide funding and training to Abbas' presidential guard, which is considered the best-trained and most reliable of the security services. The US and Israel refuse to deal with Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group.
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