A former Royal Marine is leading a highly sensitive U.N. operation to train the Palestinian Arab presidential guard for a mission that has raised concerns about the impartiality of the United Nations.

Known as the Karni Project, the operation involves training up to 250 members of the Fatah-controlled force to improve security at the Karni Crossing, the main exit from the Gaza Strip for cargo.

The project is jointly funded by the Netherlands, Canada, and Britain. All three emphasize that the Palestinian Arab guards are not receiving military equipment but training in border management, including searching techniques and perimeter security.

But with Fatah clashing regularly with Hamas gunmen in Gaza, there are concerns that the mission will be construed as favoring one side in a nascent civil war.

The situation was not helped by the fact the project was conceived by Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, who is the regional security coordinator for America, which is at loggerheads with Hamas.

Until repeated inquiries by the Daily Telegraph, the mission was being run under a de facto news blackout.

“The U.N. is meant to be totally impartial, above party politics and factional fighting, so to be seen to be helping just the presidential guard, which is connected to Fatah, raises very real risks,” one U.N. field officer not involved with the Karni Project said yesterday.

Recent rumors of arms shipments to Fatah from Egypt sparked fierce fighting with Hamas gunmen attacking a convoy of suspect trucks.
Even though the United Nations has thousands of employees and numerous agencies in Israel and the Palestinian Arab territories, a U.N. “entity” that specializes in dangerous missions was brought in from outside.

The U.N. Office for Project Services, which carries out tasks such as de-mining in war zones, sent a small team headed by the former British serviceman to run the training project at Karni.

The team leader was selected because his military background prepared him to work in what is regarded as a very hostile environment.
The former Royal Marine, who has worked on U.N. missions for the last 13 years, agreed to meet the Daily Telegraph, but his name cannot be used for security reasons.

“Our project is completely transparent and involves nothing except improving the capability of the Palestinians running the border crossing,” he said.

Nevertheless, he and his small team, which include some other former British servicemen, work in conditions of heightened security, wearing bullet-proof vests when they enter Gaza and never spending more than a few hours on site because of the risk of being caught in Hamas-Fatah fighting.

The Karni Project was born out of the worsening economic situation in Gaza following the withdrawal of Israeli settlers and troops in the summer of 2005.

Their departure had promised an economic boom led by the export of high-value agricultural products such as cut flowers and cherry tomatoes that would be grown by Palestinian Arab farmers in hothouses vacated by the Israelis.

But the export project collapsed when Israel repeatedly closed the Karni Crossing, the only route for exports, for fear of attack by militants.
According to the plan drawn up by General Dayton, only by dramatically improving security on the Palestinian Arab side of Karni could a meaningful flow of exports be re-established.

Starting in December, eight specially-selected lieutenants and majors from the presidential guard were brought to Jericho in the West Bank to be “trained as trainers” by the UNOPS team.

They were only allowed to travel to Jericho from Gaza with Israeli permission, indicating support from the Jewish state for the project and the improvement in the presidential guard capability.

“The first phase of training went well, although we identified some shortfalls in leadership that will have to be addressed,” the UNOPS team leader said.

In January, the project shifted to the Karni Crossing itself in Gaza where facilities were found to be basic, with no perimeter fence.
It has taken weeks for the UNOPS team to prepare classrooms, a power generator, a secure perimeter, and various other items needed to start training the border guards.

The first 80 recruits are due to start training next week.

The plan is to erect a formidable perimeter wall featuring a steel fence mounted with motion detectors that will pass real-time data to the control room. The site will be patrolled by vehicles mounted with cameras and sensors sending back more data.

Spikes that rise from the road will stop any unauthorized vehicle long before it reaches the border with Israel, although the guards will be trained in arrest techniques. The plan is for the guards to remain unarmed on site.

With Karni being used several times in the past by militants to smuggle bombs into Israel, security is high.

At present, only 200 truckloads can leave Gaza each day, but the plan is to quadruple the daily flow to 800 after the training is complete.