service Tel Aviv, Oct 5, SPA -- The United States has proposed a $20 million (¤15.8 million) plan to boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' personal security force and upgrade the main cargo crossing between Gaza and Israel, American officials said Thursday. The plan is being worked out by Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator in the West Bank and Gaza, and was discussed during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's meeting with Abbas on Wednesday, the officials said. The plan is part of a larger U.S. effort to bolster Abbas,a political moderate who is in a power struggle with theHamas group, the Associated Press reported. Hamas defeated Abbas' Fatah Party in legislative elections this year and formed a government. Some branches of the security forces are under the control of the interior minister from Hamas, while others are under Abbas' control. The U.S. plan would provide funding and training to Abbas' presidential guard, which is considered the best-trained and most reliable of the security services. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/394276