[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

The problem the American officers have identified with the PA has absolutely
nothing to do with either the size of the PA security force, their training
or the weapons and other equipement they have.

This is not a minor observation.

It goes to the very heart of policy making.

If the PA isn't serious about doing what the U.S. thinks it will do with all
the weapons and training - then why arm them to the teeth so that when they
turn their weapons against Israel they will be able to do more dammage than
they can today?]

U.S. road map monitors: PA failing in fight against terror
By Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay , Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 12:08 26/03/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/968416.html

The American officers responsible for monitoring Israeli and Palestinian
compliance with the road map peace plan recently criticized the Palestinian
Authority's counterterrorism efforts.

However, they have also demanded clarifications from Israel about its
failure to carry out its road map obligations, which include a freeze on
settlement construction and the dismantling of illegal West Bank outposts.

Specifically, the Americans are concerned that the PA does not engage in the
full spectrum of counterterrorism activities, including arrests,
interrogation and trial, as it would if it were trying to eradicate the
armed wings of Islamic terrorist organizations. Instead, it makes do with
trying to "contain" terror - to prevent specific attacks, and to keep Hamas
from growing strong enough to threaten Fatah's rule in the West Bank.

The PA security services do occasionally arrest members of Islamic
organizations, but they do not then follow up with the other steps in the
"chain of prevention": interrogations, arrests of additional operatives,
indictments and trials. Trials generally take place only if the PA is under
external pressure, as in the case of the Palestinians who killed two
off-duty soldiers out on a hike near Hebron three months ago. And when they
do take place, they are generally hasty affairs.

Israel has been complaining about the lack of a "chain of prevention" for
years, ever since the second intifada broke out in 2000. Now, it seems that
the American monitoring team, headed by General William Fraser, has adopted
Jerusalem's position on this issue.

Security coordination between Israel and the PA has deteriorated since the
terror attack on Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva three weeks ago.
Palestinian security officials are angry over what they view as Israel's
lack of faith in them, as reflected in its recent decision to go after four
wanted terrorists in Bethlehem itself, rather than informing the
Palestinians and letting them try to arrest the men. And while the PA has
recently arrested several members of Islamic organizations in the northern
West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service
question the significance of these arrests.

With regard to Israel's obligations, the Americans recently gave both the
government and the defense establishment a list of 10 questions concerning
outposts, settlement construction and other issues. Associates of U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been harshly critical of
Jerusalem's failure to evacuate outposts, remove roadblocks and take other
measures to improve the PA's economy, such as establishing industrial parks
along the seam between Israel and the West Bank.

That may be what prompted Defense Minister Ehud Barak to declare, on three
separate occasions over the last two days, that Israel would work to improve
Palestinian life and promote economic projects, and would also consider
removing certain roadblocks.

Barak, who will meet on Wednesday with PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad,
announced on Tuesday that he has approved the entry of 600 Palestinian
policemen into Jenin, where they will engage in routine law enforcement. The
policemen are currently undergoing training in Jordan.

Meanwhile, another senior American envoy, retired general James Jones, has
begun a dialogue with Israel on its security demands of the Palestinians
under a final-status agreement. The IDF's Plans and Policy Directorate is
doing the staff work on this issue.