U.S. Proposes Expansion of Abbas’s Force - New York Times

U.S. Proposes Expansion of Abbas’s Force - New York Times: "U.S. Proposes Expansion of Abbas’s Force
By STEVEN ERLANGER

JERUSALEM, Oct. 4 — The United States is proposing to expand the presidential guard of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to 6,000 men from the current 3,500, as part of a $26 million plan to shore up Mr. Abbas’s position and reduce the security chaos in the Palestinian Authority, according to donors who have been briefed by Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, Washington’s Security Coordinator for the Palestinians.

General Dayton is in talks with Mr. Abbas to reduce the number of overlapping Palestinian security services in order to create a single national police force, on the model of Italy’s carabinieri.

The Americans are pressing Israel and the Palestinians to agree by Nov. 1 on how to reorganize and reconstruct the Palestinian side of the main border crossing for goods shipped between Gaza and Israel, known as the Karni crossing.

Israel has often shut Karni because of security threats. General Dayton has proposed spending about $25.5 million to build a modern facility for checking and scanning trucks on the Palestinian side, with the goal of allowing up to 400 trucks a day to leave Gaza loaded with exports.

The Americans hope"