Palestinian Security Services

Background

The State of Palestine has no land army, nor an air force or a navy. The Palestinian Security Services (PSS, not to confuse with Preventive Security Service) do not dispose over heavy weapons and advanced military equipment like tanks.

In the so-called Israeli–Palestinian peace process, Israel has consistently demanded that a Palestinian state will always be demilitarised and thus will never have an army. Israeli negotiators demanded to keep Israeli troops in the West Bank, to maintain control of Palestinian airspace, and to dictate exactly what weapons could and could not be purchased by the Palestinian security forces. In June 2009 at Bar-Ilan University, Benyamin Netanyahu said: ″We cannot be expected to agree to a Palestinian state without ensuring that it is demilitarised,″

Article XII of the Oslo II Accord states:
″In order to guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the [Palestinian] Council shall establish a strong police force as set out in Article XIV below. Israel shall continue to carry the responsibility for defense against external threats, including the responsibility for protecting the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, and for defense against external threats from the sea and from the air, as well as the responsibility for overall security of Israelis and Settlements, for the purpose of safeguarding their internal security and public order, and will have all the powers to take the steps necessary to meet this responsibility.″
Article II of Annex I stipulates:
″The Palestinian Police is the only Palestinian security authority.″
The Annex allows a security force limited to six branches:

From Oslo to Second Intifada

Following the Oslo Accords, the number of separate security forces, all under exclusive control of President Arafat, had been grown considerably. Based on the 1994 Cairo Agreement, "a strong police force" was formed which, however, steadily grew far beyond the agreed numbers, to include soldiers and returnees from the diaspora. By 1996, the PA had more than 35,000 security officers on the payroll. Arafat ruled the forces in an authoritarian divide-to-rule manner, not devoid of corruption and nepotism.

During the Second Intifada, in 2002, the Israeli army virtually completely destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian Security, leaving a security vacuum that was soon filled by armed groups. By 2006, some 70% of the Palestinians trusted non-PA forces, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, more than the PA security forces.

2002-2004 reform

In 2002, Arafat created the post of Minister of Interior and handed over the responsibility for public order and internal security. It included authority over the security organizations Preventive Security, Civil Police and Civil Defence.

The National Security Council

Under strong Israeli and international pressure, based on the 2003 Roadmap for peace, Arafat started the reorganization of the PSS. On 30 April 2003, right on the publication date of the Roadmap, Arafat issued a presidential decree calling for the establishment of a National Security Council (NSC) to oversee all of the PNA's security services. It was the result of a struggle for power between Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and President Arafat, and international - mainly American - pressure. Abbas would become acting Interior Minister in his new government. On 11 September, Arafat announced the formation of the 14-member Council that would supervise all the security organs. President Arafat became the chairman of the NSC. Like his predecessor, the newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei disagreed with Arafat about the appointment of the Interior Minister.

On 8 November 2003, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and President Arafat agreed to divide the NSC between the government and the National Security Council, after having resolved disputes over the choice of the new Interior Minister. The NSC (headed by Arafat) became responsible for security affairs, while the Interior Minister would be in charge of non-security administrative and civilian affairs, but also a member of the NSC along with the Finance Minister Salam Fayyad and the heads of the security agencies. Eventually, Arafat's close associate Hakam Balawi became the new Interior Minister in Qurei's Government, which was approved on 12 November 2003. In his capacity as Prime Minister, however, Qurei was also member of the NSC. However, the Security Council remained a paper tiger, as Arafat continued to control the security branches directly.

Three main branches

Again under international pressure, Arafat rebuilt on 17 July 2004 the eight separate security services to three after 6 people were kidnapped in Gaza. Arafat decreed that the security services would be divided into three branches: National Security Forces (NSF), Internal Security Forces (ISF) and General Intelligence (GI).

Arafat nominated three close relatives as heads of the new apparatus, including his nephew Moussa Arafat, who was already head of the general security branch in the Gaza Strip. It fueled protests and internal clashes between rival sections of the security forces staffed by members of Arafat's party Fatah. The already existing protests were widely seen as a power struggle ahead of Israel's announced disengagement from Gaza. Yasser Arafat withdrew the controversial nomination of Moussa Arafat, but the latter remained head of the general security branch in the Gaza Strip.

2005 reform

After his election as President of the Palestinian National Authority in January 2005, Mahmoud Abbas started a major reform of the Security Forces.

On 14 April 2005, the President announced that the previously existing 12 security divisions were to be merged into three general branches, in accordance with the 2004 decree of his predecessor Arafat. On 4 June 2005, Abbas promulgated the "Law of Service in the Palestinian Security Forces No. 8 of 2005". The security forces were divided into:

Head of the three branches became Nasser Yousef. With the reform, the responsibilities of Yousef, who was appointed Interior Minister two months earlier, were considerably expanded. Rashid Abu Shbak was named the new head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service.

On 22 April, Abbas retired head of the Gaza national security forces Moussa Arafat and replaced him with Suleiman Heles; head of the Gaza General Intelligence Amin al-Hindi was replaced by Tareq Abu Rajab. Alaa Husni was appointed head of the Palestinian police, while further 1,150 Palestinian security officials were also retired.

From September 2005, the NSC was headed by President and Prime Minister, with as members the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD), the Secretary General of the Presidency, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Civil Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Advisor.

Establishment of the Judicial Police Force

On 12 July 2005, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei established a Judicial Police Force under the responsibility of the Minister of Interior and National Security (at the time Nasser Yousef). The new force was part of the Civil Police Force and its tasks were inter alia described as: implement decisions of the courts and the Public Prosecution; protect the buildings housing the courts, the judges and the Public Prosecution; and transport and protect persons held in custody and convicts. A Judicial Police subject to the Public Prosecution's Attorney-General already existed in 1995 since the Oslo Accords.

2006-2007 internal power struggle

After Hamas had won the 2006 parliamentary elections, power struggles over the security services between the Hamas-led PA Government and the presidency emerged. Yet, President Abbas tried to remove the Fatah-dominated security organizations from the control of the Government; in an ironic twist, he tried with the support of Western governments to restore the old structure of the security sector as it had existed under Arafat.

In March 2006, Said Seyam became the new PA Interior Minister, replacing the former Interior Minister and Abbas' confidant Nasser Yousef. However, already on 20 February media reported that President Abbas had named the Fatah-affiliated Rashid Abu Shbak head of the internal security in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The outgoing Interior Minister Nasser Yousef denied the reports. On 6 April 2006, one week after Hamas had formed its first PA government, Abbas indeed appointed Abu Shbak head of the three security agencies, including the Preventive Security, Civil Police and Civil Defence (Public Security). Abu Shbak said he was authorized to hire and fire officers in the three security branches. Though Seyam would technically be Abu Shbak's boss, any dispute between the two would be resolved in the Abbas-headed National Security Council. This fueled further rivalry between Hamas and Abbas. Also in April 2006, Abbas created under his own control a new Public Administration for the crossing points and borders. The Presidential Guard was expanded and provided with rapid-intervention capabilities.

The Executive Force

In response to Abbas' decisions to take control over the PA security forces away from the Hamas-led government, the Government decided to form its own 3,000 manned police force in the Gaza Strip, the paramilitary Executive Force. On 20 April, Minister Said Seyam appointed Jamal Abu Samhadana Director General of the police forces in Gaza. Abu Samhadana was the head of the militant Popular Resistance Committees. Hamas sought to include members of all the resistance branches (and gain at least some control over the groups). Already on 8 June 2006, Abu Samhadana was assassinated by the Israeli army.

On 17 May 2006, the first men were deployed. In January 2007, Abbas outlawed the Interior Ministry's police force. The Ministry resistet Abbas' order that its meanwhile 6,000 members of the Executive Force be incorporated into the security apparatus loyal to the president's Fatah movement. Instead, Hamas announced plans to double the size of its force to 12,000 men. Eventually, it ended in Fatah–Hamas battle in Gaza in June 2007. On 18 June 2007, Abbas dissolved the National Security Council, after having dissolved the Hamas-led PA Government.

Budget and strength

In 2013, the PA's security budget was almost $1 billion, comprising 28 percent of the total budget. The large defense budget has been criticized because it is seen as part of the internal oppression system, as well as maintaining the crumbling Fatah movement’s hegemony and the status quo with Israel. Some 65,000 of the PA’s civil servants (41%) were registered as defense workers; 34,000 were not Hamas government employees in Gaza.

As of November 2014, there were about 17,000 military employees in Gaza, including policemen, who were hired by Hamas since June 2007. They were still considered illegitimate by the Palestinian unity government of 2014 and therefore not paid.

As of January 2005, the number of Palestinian Authority security forces was, according to Associated Press, about 30,000. The division was as follows:

Tasks

The 2003 Amended Basic Law (Article 84) states:

"The Security Forces and the Police are regular forces. They are the armed forces in the country. Their functions are limited to defending the country, serving the people, protecting society and maintaining public order, security and public morals."

The National Security Forces and the Presidential Guard are the PA's paramilitary forces, to some extent resembling an army. Before the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, the PA maintained a small Coast Guard, using 5 motorboats equipped with machine guns along the Gazan seacoast. Before Israel destroyed the Gazan airport, there was also a small Aerial Police.

Police tasks are performed by the Civil Police Force, known as the Blue Police for its uniform color. Additionally, there are some other small civil forces. The Preventive Security Force is a large unit of the PA's intelligence. The intelligence division is divided into General Intelligence (Mukhabarat), Military Intelligence (Istikhbarat) and Military Police Intelligence.

Crack down on Palestinians

A February 2016 report of the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor), documented 1,274 arbitrary detentions in the West Bank in 2015 and 1,089 summonses by PA's Palestinian Security Services. The human rights violations targeted mostly individuals affiliated with Hamas or who opposed PA policies, including about 35 journalists and human rights activists, 476 university students, and 67 teachers/professors. Twenty-seven percent of the arrests lasted for a month or more. As the most serious violations were mentioned the refusal to implement court rulings ordering the release or acquittal of detainees. Medical reports confirmed the systematic practice of torture in Palestinian Authority jails in the West Bank. The number of human rights violations committed by PA authorities in the West Bank was significantly greater than the similar violations for which Hamas was responsible in Gaza. In both, West Bank and Gaza people were arrested or summoned for posting or liking messages on social media, primarily on Facebook, critical of respectively the PA or Hamas.

In March 2016, the London-based Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR-UK) reported that in 2015, PA security forces in the West Bank arbitrarily arrested or summoned 1,715 civilians. They included students, journalists, women and children. Nearly 1,000 detainees were Palestinians who were previously released from Israeli jails. The report stated that 37 detainees were tortured, some held in solitary confinement for several months. Eleven Palestinians were even held in administrative detention (without charge). The bulk of the arrests and summons, while violating Human Rights, were carried out by the Preventive Security Force and the General Intelligence. Sometimes, the forces used live bullets to intimidate Palestinians. The forces often did not comply with court orders for the release of detainees. Security forces were also accused of seizing personal belongings and property of arrested persons. Four Palestinians were taken hostage to force members of their families to hand themselves in. Security forces even charged Palestinians held in Israeli prisons; judges considered them fugitives for failing to appear in court, while being held in Israeli jails. The AOHR-UK report stressed that only a fraction of the total cases of human rights abuses in Palestine was represented in the report.

In 2015, at least 33 peaceful protests were allegedly crushed in the West Bank. In September 2015, security forces dispersed a march of protesters who demonstrated against excessive use of force by PA security forces against demonstrators.

Security cooperation between Israel and Palestine

Security cooperation between Israel and Palestine is the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli army. It involves the sharing of intelligence between the two parties.

The cooperation originates from the Oslo Accords. Pursuant to Oslo II, Article XII, a "Joint Coordination and Cooperation Committee for Mutual Security Purposes" was established and a palestinian Civil Police Force "to guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip".

While Israeli security officials regularly praised the cooperation, critics say that the agreement was very much focused on creating a structure which would primarily ensure the security of Israel. Leaked documents in the Palestine Papers revealed that the PA was willing to go as far as to kill its own people in order to prove that it was establishing law and order in territories under its control. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a civil society leader in Bethlehem, said the Oslo accords had effectively turned the PA into a ″security sub-contractor″, and ″The job of the Palestinian security forces is to enforce the occupation on Israel’s behalf″.

On numerous occasions, President Abbas has threatened to end the security cooperation to show firmness to end the Israeli occupation, however without ever taking concrete steps. In October 2014, Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh calculated that Abbas had used the thread 58 times. In May 2014, Abbas declared that the security cooperation with Israel is sacred. In March 2015, the PLO Central Council formally decided to end the security coordination, but eventually, the decision was not implemented.

Third Intifada

Since the new uprising that begun in October 2015 the Palestinian police seemed to show less willingness to suppress protests against the occupation. In December 2015, the Palestinian police even for the first time evicted Israeli Border Police who had raided Beitunia, a suburb of Ramallah in Area A, which formally is under exclusive security control by the Palestinians.

Nevertheless, commander of the Palestinian Intelligence in the West Bank Majid Faraj revealed in January 2016, that the Security Forces since October 2015 had prevented some 200 "terrorist attacks" against Israel and arrested about 100 Palestinians on suspicion of planning attacks against Israelis. It triggered a wave of denunciations from Palestinian factions that are strongly opposed to security coordination with Israel. A spokesman of Hamas said that the PA security forces played a role in serving the security of the occupation and combating the Palestinian intifada, and that “Protecting the security of the occupation has become part of the ideology of the Palestinian security forces”. Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, on the contrary, defended the Intelligence chief.

Criticism on security cooperation

Palestinian security forces have often been criticized for suppressing their own people and crushing the resistance to the Israeli occupation. They targeted on the armed resistance as well as political opposition and protesters. Not only Hamas supporters are targeted, but Fatah adherents as well.

In 2008, the head of the Palestinian Civil Police presented the Israelis with a laundry list of actions taken by the PA against Hamas. In the West Bank, Hamas members are frequently arrested, as were students supporting Hamas.