In rare move, Palestinian police kick Israeli soldiers out of West Bank town
Allison Deger on December 28, 2015 47 Comments
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Palestinian
presidential guards forcibly remove Israeli soldiers from the West Bank
city of Beituna, near the presidential compound on December 21, 2015.
A
group of red-beret-wearing Palestinian police scuffled with Israeli
soldiers near Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ residence last week
and ordered the military to leave the area of the West Bank under
Palestinian security control. Footage of the December 21, 2015 incident
was published by local media. It shows Palestinian presidential guards
threatening Israeli forces outside of the city of Beitunia near
Ramallah.
A
Palestinian security official said his officers told the Israeli
soldiers they would shoot if the soldiers did not retreat, reported the
Bethlehem-based outlet Ma’an News Agency.
Because the confrontation involved Abbas’ personal protection force, the dispute was upgraded to the political track.
Israeli
Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly apologized to the
Palestinian leadership, citing the movement into a region controlled by
Palestinian security as a mistake, according to Defense News.
Defense News went on to report the
account of an unnamed senior Israeli official who said: ”Our soldiers
came to the barrier that blocked off the street and told their soldiers
to lower their weapons, that we needed to work here,” continuing, “The
security of Abu Mazen [Abbas] started arguing, and after a few minutes,
our soldiers understood. They took a different route. There was no
violence; just shouting and perhaps pushing.”
The
Palestinian leadership did not log the incident in its daily monitoring
report of Israeli military activities inside of the West Bank, Gaza and
Jerusalem.
While
interactions between Palestinian security and Israeli military forces
are not rare, the schism marked the first time in years when Palestinian
police removed Israeli soldiers from a city in the West Bank.
Under
the Oslo agreement the West Bank is divided into three regions (area A,
B and C). Area A includes all of the major Palestinian cities and is
under full Palestinian security control. Israeli forces are prohibited
from entering these islands of autonomy, although in practice they cross
into area A several times a week. Typically they enter for nighttime
incursions and arrest operations, at which time Palestinian police are
generally out of sight as a byproduct of security coordination between
the armed forces.
The
relationship between the two armed outfits has come under increased
scrutiny by Palestinians who perceive security coordination as an
example of their leadership sanctioning Israeli military control over
the West Bank. In a recent survey by the leading West Bank pollster, the
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 64-percent of
Palestinians said they support an end to security coordination with
Israel.
Last
year the Palestinian leadership voted to end security coordination with
the Israeli military, which in theory would mean Palestinian police
would make inroads to remove Israeli forces from area A of the West
Bank. Despite the formal decision of the Palestinian government,
implementation is still under debate. Palestinian leaders are meeting
this week in Ramallah for continued discussions on when cutting ties
with the Israeli military will take place.
The
Palestinian presidential guard is one branch of the Palestinian police
force established by the Oslo Accords. The forces train in the West Bank
city of Jericho at a $10 million police academy funded by the U.S.
government. In 2014 they added the first all-women unit.
The
last notable confrontation between the presidential guard and the
Israeli military took place in September 1996 when the presidential
guard fired shots on Israeli soldiers in both the West Bank and Gaza,
during clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian
demonstrators. The incident caused a diplomatic frenzy, and then-Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, serving his first term, met with the former
chairman of the Palestinian government Yasser Arafat.
- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/
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