NEW YORK, August 27. /TASS/. Egypt is training hundreds of Palestinians as part of a plan to deploy 10,000 troops for the provision of post-war security in the Gaza Strip, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing Arab officials.
The first troops have already begun training at Egyptian military academies, the officials said. Under the plan, as soon as there is a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave, 5,000 security personnel will be sent to Egypt for training. The contingent will include the Palestinian Authority security forces, and some fighters may come from the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah faction. In addition, while the bulk of the Arab forces will come from Egypt, some number will also arrive from Jordan and Gulf states.
Mahmoud al-Habbash, a senior adviser to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, told the newspaper that the international community was expected to fund the project. The effort comes as Arab countries have been explicitly opposing the involvement of Hamas in Gaza, the WSJ continued. In July, the Arab League for the first time urged the radical Palestinian movement to lay down arms and end its rule of the enclave. Al-Habbash voiced a similar proposal.
According to the WSJ, the Arab plan to deploy PA Palestinians in Gaza would likely find opposition from Israel which views PA structures as "supporters of terrorists, with little difference from Hamas.
Earlier, Egypt’s top diplomat, Bard Abdelatty announced that the republic was planning to train a police force of around 5,000 Palestinians who would provide security in the Gaza Strip as soon as hostilities end there.