Russia to help rebuild Palestinian territories

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin yesterday promised to give equipment and training to Palestinian security forces.

He has also offered to help rebuild the Palestinians' crumbling infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, from which Israel is withdrawing this summer.

Mr Putin met for about two hours with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on the third day of his historic visit to the region. The two leaders focused on the Middle East peace process and Russian aid to the Palestinians.

The Palestinians and Moscow have a long history of political and cultural co-operation dating to the Cold War, when the Soviet Union backed Arab states and the Palestinians in their fight against the US-backed Israelis.

About 15,000 Palestinians - including Mr Abbas - studied in Russian universities. In recent years, however, Russian ties with Israel have warmed. Mr Putin's trip - the first by a Kremlin leader to Israel and the occupied territories - was seen as an effort to burnish Russia's credentials as a key regional mediator and a player on the world stage.

The Russian leader told a news conference he would provide the Palestinians, whose infrastructure was damaged in more than four years of fighting with the Israelis, with helicopters and training for their security services. "We will provide the Palestinian leadership with technical help, supplies of equipment and training," Mr Putin said. "We want the co-operation to be completely open and not cause concern on the Israeli side, and we will resolve this together."

The helicopters would be used to transport Mr Abbas. Israel destroyed the Palestinian Authority's presidential helicopters as part of its campaign to limit the movement of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said Russia would provide the Palestinians with two helicopters. Talks on providing the Palestinians with armoured vehicles will continue, he added.

Mr Putin had been expected to offer the Palestinian police 50 armoured patrol vehicles, but Israel had objected, questioning the need for such vehicles, leaving the plan in limbo.

"If we expect Chairman Abbas to fight terrorism effectively, he can't do it with slingshots and stones. We must understand this," Mr Putin said.

Russia also had offered to help rebuild the Palestinian infrastructure in Gaza. Israel plans to pull out of the impoverished coastal strip this summer, and Palestinian efforts to maintain order there will be viewed by many as a test case for their handling of a future state. Mr Putin was greeted yesterday morning at the Palestinian headquarters, known as the muqata.

A military band played a halting version of Russia's national anthem and the Palestinian anthem as Mr Putin and Mr Abbas stood side by side. Security officers then placed a wreath, with a banner reading "from the president of the Russian Federation," before the tomb of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Mr Putin's meeting with Mr Abbas followed talks on Thursday with Israeli leaders, where he discussed Russia's co-operation with Syria and Iran - two of Israel's bitterest enemies - and the growing problem of anti-Semitism in Russia.

However, a day after soothing his Israeli hosts with a stern call for Iran to do more to show it's not building an atomic bomb, Mr Putin reiterated in Ramallah that Russia had no intention of halting its nuclear-related co-operation with Tehran.