Israel disrupts Palestinian policing: EU adviser

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The British police officer in charge of European Union efforts to train Palestinian police accused Israeli troops on Monday of disrupting efforts by the Palestinian Authority to impose its own security measures.

Israel let 300 members of the Palestinian National Security forces deploy in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus this month as President Mahmoud Abbas tries to show it is capable of imposing order before next week's peace conference in Annapolis in the United States.

But Colin Smith, a former senior British police officer, said frequent raids by the Israeli Defense Forces into Nablus were a problem: "I am aware of the situation in Nablus that the IDF is not helping the situation," he told Reuters.

"At night they come into Nablus and there are operations that they are mounting which clearly is not helping Palestinian Authority's security plan," he said in an interview.

Israel, along with its allies, says it has been trying to help Abbas impose order in the West Bank since his Islamist opponents from Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

Israel wants Abbas to curb Palestinian militants before it will negotiate on ending its 40-year occupation. Israeli officials have said that if security in Nablus improves, Palestinian forces could deploy in other West Bank cities.

Smith said that the EU will ask a conference of donors in Paris next month to provide funding for the police and added that he believed the force was capable of providing security.

"This is a police force with a high level of skills and training but if they haven't got the equipment," he said.

"If you haven't got the vehicles, if you haven't got the radios you cannot do it."

Smith also pointed to a lack of prison space as a reason criminals remain at large and recommended building at least two detention facilities.

He called for an end to restrictions on movement by the Palestinian police: "You cannot deal with organized crime with major criminals if they can move from one area to another but the police cannot."