WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. diplomatic security officials will begin training the Palestinian presidential guard this year in an effort to support the government of President Mahmoud Abbas, the State Department said on Sunday.  
Under an agreement signed this month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, presidential guard officers would take course work and conduct VIP protection exercises under the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Rice visited the West Bank in early August, six weeks after Hamas Islamists took over the Gaza strip, in order to bolster Abbas and his Fatah government and promote a U.S.-backed Middle East peace conference to be held later this year.
The guards' training will run from autumn into early 2008 and is part of U.S. and international efforts to bolster the Palestinian security sector and improve law and order, the State Department said in a statement.
The program aims to help the Palestinian Authority "deliver security for the Palestinian people and fight terrorism, build confidence between the parties, and ultimately help to meet the security needs of Palestinians and Israelis alike," it said.
Security training funds were part of about $80 million the Bush administration has promised to boost Palestinian security forces.
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