The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is establishing a special department that will be responsible for implementing the road map for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
According to reports reaching Jerusalem, the CIA officers will coordinate supervision and monitoring of the implementation of the road map, and track both sides' implementation of their responsibilities.
One team within the CIA department will focus on the reorganization of the Palestinian security services.
The CIA move is seen as an indication of the seriousness with which the Americans intend to see the road map implemented. A government source said last night that the U.S. administration is getting ready to implement the plan, with an emphasis on the security aspects as the key to any progress.
That's why the CIA got the job, said the source, noting that in the past the CIA was involved in helping to form and structure the Palestinian security services, and it sat in on the security coordination efforts between Israel and the PA.
In the past, Israel agreed to a small CIA team monitoring the territories, to track possible cease-fires and to supervise Palestinian reforms. But the current CIA department is much larger than that.
CIA Director George Tenet prepared a cease-fire plan two years ago, that Israel and the PA never implemented, which has evolved into the security core of the road map. Tenet visited Israel two and a half weeks ago for meetings with PM Ariel Sharon and the heads of the intelligence community.
According to the American plan, the U.S. will head the supervising mechanism of the road map's implementation, helped by the other members of the Quartet - Russia, the EU and UN - and other elements, a possible hint of direct British involvement.
The supervising mechanism will include four committees: the security committee will deal with reforms in the PA security apparatus and renewing security coordination, monitoring Palestinian activity against terror as well as the army's withdrawals from PA areas. The special operations committee will deal with the settlement freeze, evacuation of the illegal outposts, a cessation of the incitement and reopening of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem. Two other committees will deal with civil reforms in the PA, and humanitarian affairs.
