Europe to Try Again, Train Palestinian Police Officers

During the Oslo years, the international community provided money, weapons, and security training to Palestinian police officers - most of whom were loyal to Yasser Arafat and his Fatah party. When the Palestinians decided to launch the current war against Israel at the expense of their own civil society, many of those police officers left to join the Al Aksa Brigades - the armed, explicitly terrorist wing of the Fatah party - taking their international money, weapons, and attack training with them. Now the European Union wants to try again:

The EU plans to announce on Monday that it will launch a three-year mission, starting January 1, to help the Palestinians build up a credible police force, EU officials said... The EU plans to provide up to 50 law enforcement experts to advise on how to staff, manage and finance Palestinian police forces, officials said.

Not for nothing, but this week the Al Aksa Brigades - some of whom were very probably among the first Palestinian police officers to receive international training a decade ago - enthusiastically endorsed Iran's call for mass genocide against the five million Jews who live in Israel.

[Cross-posted at Mere Rhetoric]

Posted by Omri Ceren at November 6, 2005 04:47 PM