Palestinian Authority requests $680m in security assistance from US, sources say

The Palestinian Authority (PA) asked the United States to approve a four-year $680m plan to boost the training of its special forces and bolster its supply of ammunition and armoured vehicles, an American source and a source close to PA revealed to Middle East Eye.

The request was made in mid-December at a meeting with US security officials at the PA's Ministry of Interior in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

At the meeting, PA security officials expressed frustration over what they believed was the US’s failure to fulfil its commitments to the authority by replenishing arms supplies and training special forces.

"Authority officials requested in the meeting that their needs for armoured vehicles and ammunition be met urgently in light of the difficulty of the clashes and their inability to resolve the situation in the Jenin camp," a source told MEE.

They also complained that the US had yet to approve funding for renovation works at prisons in Bethlehem and Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Read more: Palestinian Authority requests $680m in security assistance from US, sources say