Palestinian militants eyed for security

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JERICHO, West Bank -- A secret plan to incorporate fighters from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and other militants into the official Palestinian security system is starting to take shape here, as British security experts help to create a training infrastructure for Palestinian police forces.

"We were approached by the Palestinians for help and we identified a crucial way we can help -- to make a discreet and small contribution," said a senior British official who asked not to be identified given the confidentiality of the work.

Isolated on top of a sandy hill overlooking the city, the Judean Desert and the Jordan River, the Jericho Police Training Center is about to be remodeled.

Britain has allocated $480,000 for several of the sprawling and dilapidated single-story buildings to be spruced up and to have a second floor added, and to install equipment. A pipeline is to be laid to lead water from a presently flooded well so that trees can be planted and clean drinking and bathing water made available.

The academy will house around 500 trainees, according to security sources here. It will be completed by the end of March next year, the British official said.

"The Americans know about what we're doing, they approve," the source added. "But for as long as [the late Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat was around, they found it very difficult to get involved."

Palestinian officials were coy about who precisely will be trained at the facility. But a source closely involved with the project told The Washington Times that they would include as many Al Aqsa militants as could be induced to participate.

Other hard-line Islamist militias -- principally Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- have not been approached to join the official forces, the sources said.

Gunmen who have become increasingly violent and apparently beyond the control of the official security forces will be given uniforms and disciplinary training, the source said.

The carrot is substantial -- regular salaries plus incentive bonuses, providing the sort of income that many of the gunmen could not have enjoyed in their previous occupations.