Olmert looking at Jordan troops for West Bank: report Mon Jul 30, 3:51 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in favour of Jordanian forces deploying in the occupied West Bank to help Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas fight extremists, a report said on Monday. What Olmert has in mind and what has been raised in recent meetings with Jordan's King Abdullah II... (is) regular Jordanian army troops, Bedouin who have experience fighting terrorism, said the English-language Jerusalem Post, citing unnamed sources.Government spokeswoman Miri Eisin dismissed the report, calling it speculation.
But she said that Olmert is not opposed to the idea of deployment of foreign troops, including from Arab countries, in the West Bank with a view to combating the terrorists of Hamas.The Islamist Hamas overran troops loyal to the moderate Abbas in the Gaza Strip on June 15, splitting the Palestinians into two separate entities, with the Western-backed president ruling over the West Bank and the Western-shunned Islamists in control of Gaza.Following the takeover, Israel has taken several steps aimed at bolstering Abbas in the West Bank and isolating Hamas, which does not recognise the Jewish state.Israeli media reports in recent months have speculated Jordan's Badr Brigade, made up of 1,500 to 2,000 Palestinians who receive their salaries from the Palestine Liberation Organisation, would be deployed in the West Bank.But Olmert is leaning toward the regular Jordanian troops instead, the Post said.
