Jerusalem, 30/10/2013 - Trained and equipped by Europeans, the Palestinian police plays its role of enforcing law and order and combating crime, essential elements of a still embryonic Palestinian state. Its sphere of action, however, which is in reality limited to 18% of the West Bank, continues daily to come up against the political status quo that is the legacy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
General Hazim Attalah, Head of the Palestinian police force, said on Tuesday 29 October that the “main problem is the occupation. But we must continue our work”. Deploying 8,000 men on the ground, including 1,300 riot police, the Palestinian police only controls 18% of the West Bank (Area A composed of the main Palestinian towns such as Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron) but not East Jerusalem. Pursuant to the Oslo II agreements, the two other areas, B (21% of the West Bank) and C (Jordan Valley, main natural resources, Israeli settlements, 61% of the West Bank) remain the security responsibility of Israel alone.
This fragmentation of the territory is the cause of daily practical problems for the deployment of Palestinian security forces, and it is a situation that helps crime. The security forces have to ask Israel for authorisation to go from Area A to another area or to pursue an offender that has fled to Area B. These procedures, although they may have a positive outcome, are a waste of precious time. Attalah said (our translation throughout): “Criminals are familiar with these restrictions. Some of them use the division of the territory to cover their tracks. This situation is one of the most dangerous obstacles to our work and destroys all the efforts being made by the police.”
The consequences are immediately felt when it comes to road safety, especially on the main roadways in the West Bank, all in Area C. Attalah said: “It is like a no-man's land: the Palestinian police is not authorised to intervene, and the Israeli police does not wish to go there”. “What is tragic and comic at the same time is that the first to move are the Israeli military who are not familiar with road traffic procedures”, he added.
The EU understands the concerns of the Palestinians. The commander of EU civilian operations, Hansjörg Haber, takes the view that “lifting restrictions would make the Palestinian police force far more effective and increase security”. He hopes the situation will improve in the future while acknowledging that the matter of the fragmentation of the West Bank can only be resolved at political level.
Such fragmentation of the territory in no way hampers the freedom of movement of the Israeli army, which does not hesitate to enter Area A, often without warning the Palestinian security forces first. The police find it “very embarrassing in the eyes of the people”, if not “humiliating” to witness this kind of operation without being able to intervene, said Mansour Khuzainia, spokesman of the Palestinian police academy in Jericho. “This is the message that the Palestinian forces are trying to send the international community”, he added. (MB/transl.jl)