U.S. to offer funds to help boost Abbas's forces

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Bush administration has decided to ask the U.S. Congress for funds aimed at bolstering security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, sources with knowledge of the plan said on Wednesday.

U.S. assistance in expanding Abbas's presidential guard and his control over the strategic Karni border crossing in Gaza will not include weapons or other forms of "lethal" equipment, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. restrictions on aid to the Palestinians, tightened after the Islamic militant group Hamas took control of the Palestinian Authority in March, have until now limited Washington's financial role in the effort.

The United States wants to ensure Abbas emerges victorious in any power struggle with Hamas but denies training the presidential guard for a possible confrontation.

A team led by Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator between Israel and the Palestinians, has been providing Abbas's presidential guard with strategic advice and has lobbied Western donors to give it funds and equipment.

European donors have provided vehicles. Jordan and Egypt have sent guns, ammunition and trainers, diplomats say.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to discuss strengthening the presidential guard during a meeting with Abbas in the West Bank city of Jericho on Thursday.

Rice is also expected to discuss the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose government has agreed in principle to let Abbas send a Jordan-based security force loyal to him into Gaza, where a fragile truce is in effect.

Hamas is officially sworn to Israel's destruction, whereas Abbas's Fatah movement favors peace talks with Israel leading to Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.

SOME DONORS UNEASY

Dayton has so far raised from European donors just $5 million of the $20 million Washington is seeking to expand the size of the presidential guard, build training bases, and increase security at the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Some donors are uneasy about aiding a project they fear may feed the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, diplomats said.

While Abbas has been expanding his presidential guard with U.S. help, Hamas has bolstered its own "Executive Force."

The Bush administration is considering contributing at least $10 million to the program and plans to dispatch Dayton to Washington next week to ask Congress to support the request.

Sources with knowledge of the program said the exact size of the U.S. contribution had yet to be determined.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Dayton's work was central to creating a Palestinian Authority able to "prevent terrorist attacks and rocket attacks emanating from Gaza."

The U.S.-taxpayer money would be used in part to make infrastructure improvements at Karni. Abbas is expected to deploy his presidential guard there in force mid-December.

The United States envisions the guard eventually expanding its control to all of the major border crossing points.

The program could prove controversial in Congress because of the presidential guard's past association with Force 17, which protected long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian officials and some Western diplomats say the two forces now function as separate entities but Israeli security experts say many of their members overlap.

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