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JEB SHARP:  I’m Jeb Sharp, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH, Boston.  Achieving peace in the Middle East is a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, as it has been for many of Mr. Obama’s predecessors.  There hasn’t been much progress so far.   One area, though, has proved fruitful.  In the West Bank, there’s less crime, and many say that has a lot to do with a new Palestinian security force trained in part by the US.  But as The World’s Matthew Bell reports, even that apparent success has its detractors.

MATTHEW BELL: On a sidewalk in the Palestinian city of Jericho, an elderly man in traditional dress smokes cigarettes and sips tea.  And he says times have changed.

[Man speaking Arabic]

BELL:  “Yes, yes, yes,” he says, “we feel safe and secure.”  The big change in Jericho, and some other Palestinian towns and cities, is that the Israeli military has eased back, while Palestinian police and security forces have stepped up their presence for the first time in years.  A few doors down the street, the owner of a cell phone shop says the new Palestinian security forces deserve credit.

SHOP OWNER: [speaking Arabic] I can tell you about an incident, about my experience. One time, a drunk driver drove through the window.  He broke the window and caused some damage to my shop.  Within a matter of a few hours, they managed to catch him, to bring him over, to let him fix the window and take care of the problem right away. So, they are doing very good.

BELL: Palestinian police and security forces are getting help from a host of nations.  The US component is led by three star Army General, Keith Dayton.

GEN. KEITH DAYTON: For the first time, I think it’s fair to say that the Palestinian security forces feel they are on a winning team.

BELL: This was back in May, in Washington.  Dayton was making a rare public appearance to talk about his program.   Since 2007, he said Palestinian security forces, trained and equipped with the help of the US, and in coordination with Israel, have made a huge difference.

DAYTON: Across the West Bank, these security campaigns have featured clamping down on armed gangs amid a visible police presence, dismantling illegal militias, work against illegal Hamas activities, and a focus on the safety and security of Palestinian citizens. Crime is down. Teenage girls in Jenin can visit their friends after dark without fear of being attacked. Palestinian shops are now open after dark.  They never were. A year ago they weren’t.  And life is approaching normal in many of these areas.

BELL: To the audience in Washington, Dayton’s presentation sounded smart and pragmatic.  With Hamas in control of Gaza, it makes sense for the US to help bolster the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.  And what better way to do that than work on improving security. Good for Palestinians and good for Israelis.  But to Palestinian ears, Dayton’s speech hit some different notes.  The leaders of Hamas in Gaza say the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is allowing the US and Israel to create a proxy militia that will serve their own needs.  That’s not the way Adnan Damiri sees things.  He’s a spokesman for the Palestinian police and security forces.  But Damiri says the American general added to the perception problem by taking too much credit.

ADNAN DAMIRI:  We built our police and we built our army and we built our national forces, we built it. He helped us, thank you for your help. But you are not our leader.

BELL: It’s significant that Damiri describes this new security force as an army.  That’s a term the Americans avoid completely.  They know the current Israeli government is only willing to support the idea of creating a Palestinian state if it’s a demilitarized one.  But Damiri says, of course this force is a fledging army, and one of many institutions necessary for a future state of Palestine.

DAMIRI: What we need in our state, we need army, we need police, we need intelligence, we need all the things that any state in the world needed.

BELL: That’s a frightening prospect to some Israelis.  But Israeli military commanders do support the new Palestinian security forces as they operate, and they give them high marks for performance.  The Israelis trust has its limits though.  They’ve held up shipments of protective vests, helmets and communications gear intended for the Palestinians.  Middle East expert Rob Malley of the International Crisis Group says the perception problem isn’t going away.  Malley says Palestinians are all in favor of restoring security, but they’re raising legitimate questions about who these new security forces are really taking orders from, and who they may fight in the future.  Is it criminal gangs, Hamas, or even Israel?

ROB MALLEY: The most sensitive question is whether these forces are being trained to defend Palestinians against Israel or to help Israel and the Palestinians fight against a third party.  Most Palestinians would say that they are still in a fight against Israel.  That doesn’t mean necessarily that they’re going to take up weapons.  But deep inside, they would identify their main enemy as the Israelis.  So if forces are being trained to protect not just Palestinians, but also Israelis against Palestinians, that may make sense to us as Americans. It doesn’t make sense to many Palestinians.

BELL: In the longer term, Malley says things won’t get any easier if there continues to be no political progress between the Palestinians and Israel.  He says any security force is only as strong as the political system backing it up.  As for US Army General Keith Dayton, he’s not speaking publicly these days.  An aide to the general turned down an invitation to speak on the record himself, but he said Dayton has never claimed to be in charge of any Palestinian security forces, because he’s not in charge.   Dayton has agreed to stay on in his position until late next year.  His program’s ultimate goal is to train about 5,000 Palestinian national security forces.   For The World, I’m Matthew Bell, Jericho.

JEB SHARP: Matthew also has some video from his interview with the head of the Palestinian national security forces.  You can see that at The World dot O-R-G.

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