'US generals in Israel in turf battle'
Jul. 23, 2008
YAAKOV KATZ and HERB KEINON , THE JERUSALEM POST
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A report expected to be released by the United States security coordinator
to Israel will reveal a turf war going on between two American generals sent
by the State Department to the region, Israeli defense officials said
Wednesday.

Author of the report Gen. (ret.) James Jones was appointed security envoy to
Israel and the Palestinian Authority by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
following the Annapolis Conference in November.

While earlier media reports have claimed that the document will slam Israel
for its policies in the territories, Israeli defense and diplomatic
officials told The Jerusalem Post this week that the report would instead
reflect the tension between Jones and another American security envoy
operating in the region - Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton.

The US currently has three generals here doing three different tasks, a
situation that Israeli diplomatic officials have said naturally invited a
degree of tension and "turf battles."

The first general is Lt.-Gen. William Frazier, who is charged with the
operational task of prodding both the Palestinians and the Israelis to
fulfill their road map obligations.

The second is Dayton, whose job can be described as one of "applied
logistics." He has been described as the "force provider," the individual
charged with training and equipping the Palestinian forces so that they are
capable of carrying out security duties.

Then there is Jones, whose role is of a more strategic nature. He is
mandated with analyzing what both Israel and the Palestinian's security
needs will be when a Palestinian state is formed.

"There is tension between Jones and Dayton," a senior defense official told
the Post. "The report needs to be looked at as part of an American domestic
power struggle and is less about Israel and its policies in the
territories."

Since his appointment less than a year ago, Jones has made several visits to
Israel and met with all of the senior Israeli defense officials, including
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, head of the Defense Ministry's
Diplomatic-Security Bureau Amos Gilad, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi
Shamni and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj.-Gen.
Yosef Mishlav.

IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, currently in the US, met
with Jones in Washington on Tuesday.

According to the defense official, the report would focus on the failure to
establish an effective PA security apparatus and as a result likely conclude
that the chances of reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians by the end
of 2008 were slim.

"The report will have more criticism for the diplomatic echelon in Israel
and the US," said another security official who recently met with Jones. "It
will also criticize Dayton since the report will conclude that
law-enforcement institutions - which Dayton was supposed to help create - do
not really exist."

Israeli diplomatic sources said they did not know when Jones would issue his
report, but they did not get the impression during a meeting with him 10
days ago that the report would be particularly critical of Israel.

The thrust of the report, the officials said, would be to define the future
security relationship between Israel and a future Palestinian state, and
what would be needed both for Israel and the new Palestinian state's
security needs.