U.S. Army General Keith W. Dayton will retire this year, ending a five-year stint as head of the training program for the Palestinian Authority's military force.
U.S. State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley, however, appeared not to be aware of the development when questioned by journalists at a news briefing last week, although an American official had confirmed the news to Politico the same day. Dayton, who will have spent 40 years in uniform when he leaves, had stayed on at the request of U.S. Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Crowley was apparently even more disconcerted when a journalist stated at the briefing that “the Palestinian Authority is concerned that Dayton's departure signals the Obama Administration intends to decrease its involvement in the peace process.”
"Say that again," the spokesman replied.
Upon hearing it a second time, Crowley responded, “Oh, I – on – that should not be a concern. The work that General Dayton has done complements the work that we've done in other areas to build up strong institutions within the Palestinian society. So we have seen the fruits of General Dayton's work in terms of improvements in the performance of Palestinian security forces.
The spokesman segued directly into a list of accomplishments he contended were achieved through Dayton's tenure as "security coordinator" for the IDF and the PA.
“That has directly led to some of the easing of checkpoints and incursions that Israeli forces feel they have to undertake. So the security situation in the West Bank is improving and – but we'll maintain this commitment to support the efforts of Prime Minister [Salam] Fayyad and others to build up strong institutions as we look to reach an agreement that will lead to a Palestinian state.”
Crowley appeared equally out of touch with Executive Office events in response to a question about preparations for President Barack Obama's upcoming meeting with Israeli officials.
“I think there's been an announcement at the White House, or actually by the White House Chief of Staff, that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be coming to Washington,” he said vaguely. “I have nothing to announce in terms of plans for George Mitchell to come back in the region. But we will continue to remain engaged in this, obviously,” he said.
The State Department spokesman was also unable to respond to the question of whether there would be a replacement for Dayton, and if so, who that replacement might be, even though “he works very closely with us.” General Dayton, being a military officer, is under the control of the Pentagon, he noted. “ As to whether he'll be replaced by a military officer.... I'll take that question and consult and see what we know about it.”
Pushed by reporters to give some sense of how the Obama administration perceives Dayton's job performance, however, Crowley praised the general, saying he had done “extraordinary work” for the U.S. and for the PA.
Rather than credit Israel's support and its bilateral trade efforts with the strong upswing in the PA economy, Crowley insisted that Dayton was entirely responsible for the improvement in the PA economy, and didn't mention Israel at all.
“We are seeing real changes on the ground in the West Bank,” he said. “You're seeing the growth of an economy, and economies grow when people are confident about security. “That is not to say that there are not still significant challenges that lay ahead. And as we see, there are always plenty of people who want to try to impede this progress. But General Dayton has done extraordinary work on behalf of both our interests and supporting the Palestinian Authority.
Crowley added bluntly that the U.S. is grooming Abbas and Fayyad in preparation for governing a new PA country. “More broadly, we continue to work intensively with President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad in terms of building up the capacity of the Palestinian Authority so that should we reach an agreement at some point in the future, that the Palestinians are prepared to govern a viable state.”