Police Training in Palestine

One of the big discussion in both Iraq and Afghanistan has been how the US can go about training an army and police force that is both effective in assisting with (and eventually running) COIN operations, and able to resist corruption. However there's a profitable model in Palestine Security Forces, which hasn't gotten much attention (likely because of COIN scholars general leariness of all things Israel/Palestine as a case*).

Two recent pieces highlight some of the possible problem we will encounter in current efforts (and there are some great blogs that trace on the ground efforts), even if we can manage to come up with a training regime that works.

Marc Lynch reviews Khaled Meshaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau, speech from last week. Most other commenters have focused on his offer to negotiate with Obama, but Lynch also notes

Meshaal called General Dayton's security forces the greatest obstacle to Palestinian reconciliation and called for his removal. Many in the U.S. will take this as a sign that Dayton's mission is succeeding, and that Hamas is growing worried about the increasing competence and strength of the Palestinian Authority's security forces...

But serious questions about the role and future of these security forces need to be asked -- not just because Meshaal raises them, but because his concerns reflect widespread Palestinian sentiments. It is now common to refer to... the Palestinian security forces as "the Dayton forces." This is not meant as a compliment...

There are major questions about the mission of these new Palestinian security forces... Is it something akin to the logic of COIN, establishing security and population security in order to provide the breathing space for political reconciliation? Is it to target Hamas and its infrastructure, as the Israelis demand and as seems to have been happening of late...

There are also real concerns about the implications of a rapidly improving security sector combined with hapless, inefficient and dilapidated civilian ministries.

At the same time, the Post is running pieces that focus on the new Counter-terrorism efforts that these forces are undertaking, as well as some details about the efforts that Lynch mentions. Given the problems with this (relitively successful) expantion of the security forces, it seems like more thought needs to be given to what we hope to form in Iraq and Afghanistan.

*dont get me run I fully understand the intense emotional baggage that comes with the topic... but its still cutting off our nose in en effort not to break out.