PNA to reduce dependence on Western training programs

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) tends to reduce dependence on U.S. and European officers in training its forces in the West Bank, a spokesman said Thursday.

Adnan Al-Dumiri, spokesman for the PNA's forces, said Palestinian officers who received training would start shifting their experience to newly-admitted cadets.

"The PNA's dependence on the Americans and Europeans is decreasing," he told Xinhua.

Gen. Keith Dayton, a U.S. security envoy, has been in charge of the training programs for troops loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah party since Islamic Hamas movement routed Abbas forces and seized over the Gaza Strip in 2007.

The European Union (EU) has also run a program to train Palestinian civil police.

According to Al-Dumiri, training by Palestinian experts of its forces is part of a two-year plan to build and rehabilitate the Palestinian institutions.

Source: Xinhua