"PALESTINIAN SECURITY FORCES UNFIT" - but is it structural or temperamental? OR: "WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY!"

NYTIMES: JERUSALEM, July 25 -

The security forces of the Palestinian Authority are divided, weak, overstaffed, badly motivated and underarmed, and more attention must be paid to building up institutions rather than personalities, says the first independent survey of the complicated Palestinian security environment since the death of Yasir Arafat. ... The 83-page report, "Palestinian Security Assessment," was prepared by a Washington-based group called Strategic Assessments Initiative, which has worked in other hot spots like Kosovo, East Timor and Macedonia to provide security analysis and negotiating advice to aid conflict resolution.

The study was financed by the Dutch and Canadian governments, and it was made a part of the coordination mandate given to General Ward at an international conference in London in March, said Jarat Chopra, who heads the group's Jerusalem office. ... The essential problem for the Palestinian Authority, the report says, is that its security forces were established on "an ad hoc basis without statutory support and in isolation of wider reforms," a lasting legacy of Mr. Arafat's policy of duplication and promoting rivalry within his organization. The security forces in Gaza are somewhat stronger than those in the West Bank, but suffer from a continuing lack of coordination, the report says. "The critical gap is in command and control," Mr. Chopra said. "There's a blurring between state actors and non-state actors, and that's very difficult from the military point of view."

In my opinion, this glosses over the real problem: that there is inadequate committment to a two-state solution on the part of the Palestinian Authority. If they TRULY wanted a two-state solution, then they would LIVE UP TO THEIR ROADMAP COMMITTMENTS and crack down on the jihadoterrorists who oppose it. Abbas has FAILED UTTERLY to do this - HE HASN'T EVEN TRIED. He is either a coward or a willing accomplice to jihadoterrorists and their genocidal goals.

The Iraqis and the Afghanis are bravely doing what they must in order to establish democracy and the rule of law. Until there is a true committment from the Palestinians to establish democacy and the rule of law, there will be no competent security force in the territories.

As the old saying goes: "WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY. " The committment comes first - it is the WILL with which they might find a WAY.