THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SECURITY FORCES: PAST AND PRESENT CHALLENGES Francesco Dotti, (Research Assistant, ICT) Spring 2017 ABSTRACT The purpose of this work is to identify and discuss several dimensions which affect the effectiveness of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces in the field of security and counter- terrorism. The analysis will touch upon, in addition to technical and organizational aspects, also the historical, cultural and political background of the Palestinian society and the outcomes of the assistance provided by international actors, such as the United States and Italy. In doing so, it will be possible to better understand which are the main challenges faced by the Palestinian security system in a systematic way. There are two main conclusions to this research: 1) The Palestinian Authority Security Forces are still far from being considered a professional quasi-military corp; 2) Analyzing socio-political dimensions of the Palestinian case is fundamental in order to understand the environment from which the Palestinian security apparatus emerged and how it has evolved over the years. **The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). 2 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 4 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 6 2.1. THE OSLO ACCORDS PHASE .................................................................................................................... 6 2.2. THE SECOND INTIFADA PHASE ................................................................................................................ 9 2.3. THE FAYYADISM PHASE ......................................................................................................................... 11 3. CULTURAL ASPECTS OF THE PALESTINIAN SOCIETY AND THEIR INFLUENCE WITHIN THE SECURITY SYSTEM ......................................................................................................................................................................... 13 3.1. THE TRIBAL-FAMILIAL IDENTITY ............................................................................................................ 14 3.2. THE PALESTINIAN-NATIONALIST IDENTITY ........................................................................................... 19 3.3. THE ISLAMIC IDENTITY .......................................................................................................................... 21 4. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SECURITY FORCES....................................................... 27 4.1. THE PASF DURING THE ARAFAT PHASE ................................................................................................ 29 4.2. UNITS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE PASF (1994-2005) ........................................................................ 32 4.3. THE REFORM OF THE PASF ................................................................................................................... 40 5. THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SECURITY FORCES AND THE BATTLE FOR GAZA ......................................... 46 6. INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SECURITY FORCES’ TRAINING AND PROFESSIONALIZATION .................................................................................................................................... 53 6.1. “MISSIONE ADDESTRATIVA ITALIANA IN PALESTINA” – ITALIAN SUPPORT TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY CIVIL POLICE ............................................................................................................................. 57 6.2. PROS AND CONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY SECURITY FORCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 59 7. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 65 APPENDIX A ...................................................................................................................................................... 70 APPENDIX B ...................................................................................................................................................... 71 APPENDIX C ...................................................................................................................................................... 72 APPENDIX D ...................................................................................................................................................... 73 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................................... 74 3 1. INTRODUCTION The present work aims at analyzing the security forces of the Palestinian National Authority, a quasi-military security apparatus whose purpose it is to guarantee order and security over the territories under both joint Israeli-Palestinian control and the Palestinian Authority’s control. These security forces represent an interesting case study due to their specific and unique characteristics, which are the result of a complex environment in militarily, politically, and culturally terms. Indeed, this paper will focus not only on the technical aspects of the Palestinian Authority security forces, such as the evolution of their organizational structure over the years and the tasks of their main branches, but first and foremost the historical, political, social, and cultural features that affect them and their effectiveness on the ground on a daily basis. Through this broad analysis, it will be possible to identify the main security challenges faced by the Palestinian security apparatus through a different approach. While several authors focused more on one of the several aspects mentioned above (technical, political, military, etc.), this work aims at giving the reader a broader perspective of the topic discussed. This analysis aims at looking for and identifying the main features which affect Palestinian Authority security forces’ effectiveness. Moreover, the purpose is to show how the security challenges are result of a combination of several factors, which interact between them and shape the Palestinian security apparatus. Following a brief introduction on the historical background, which will give the reader the context in which the Palestinian Authority security forces were established and evolved, the analysis will move to a broader discussion of the main cultural features which characterize the Palestinian society and, therefore, also the nature of the security apparatus. Subsequently, it will be possible to analyze the organizational structure of the Palestinian security system, showing how it was in its early stage during the 1990s and how it changed over the years. Part of this section will deal with a deeper study of the tasks of each security branch, in order to better understand how the security forces are built and how they operate, or should operate. Following, the analysis will move to a case study, the battle for Gaza in 2007. This event can be considered the first test in which Palestinian Authority security forces faced a great security threat. Through the analysis of this event, it will be possible to 4 highlight those critical factors which affected the effectiveness of the Palestinian Authority security apparatus. Finally, the last part of this paper will analyze the consequences following the loss of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority. A specific focus will be on the international support provided by the United States and some European countries in training the Palestinian Authority security forces, support that showed to be partially useless in the battle for Gaza and which increased following said event. This section aims at understanding, first of all, why the international contributions were not effective in the period before the events in 2007 and why they basically failed in preparing and strengthening the Palestinian Authority security apparatus. After this, it will be possible to focus on the most recent years, in order to see if and how the international support improved training operations. Due to the fact that Italy plays a key role in training the Palestinian Police, the backbone of the Palestinian Authority security apparatus, part of this section will analyze the Missione Addestrativa Italiana in Palestina (Italian Training Mission in Palestine, MIADIT) carried out by Carabinieri, an Italian military-police corp which is involved in preparing and training Palestinian policemen on a daily basis. Analyzing the challenges faced by the Palestinian Authority security forces is not relevant only for the specific context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The wide study over historical, political, cultural and technical dimensions of this quasi-military corp will allow the reader to understand which key factors influence the establishment, evolution and effectiveness of a security apparatus, regardless its country of origin. Nowadays, several Western countries are constantly involved in training foreign military, paramilitary and police units.