Reports that the Palestinian Authority is interested in renewing security arrangements with Israel provides an opportunity to explain the productive 25-year relationship between the two sides that gets very little coverage in the international media. The aspects of conflict between Jerusalem and Ramallah are what media organizations tend to focus on.
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The Madrid Conference, Oslo Accords
Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) held talks in Madrid in 1991 that began a process of exploring a path towards a peace agreement. One of the major issues related to security. With the Israel Defense Forces agreeing to gradually leave Palestinian-majority areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jerusalem was concerned that major cities could become havens for terrorists to launch attacks against Israelis. For its part, the Palestinian leadership was concerned about a potential breakdown of law and order in regions that would be transferred to its control.
The Oslo Accords signed in 1993 by Israel and the PLO, sought to address these issues. In fact, Article VII of the agreement stipulates:
In order to guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the (joint Palestinian-Israeli) Council will establish a strong police force, while Israel will continue to carry the responsibility for defending against external threats, as well as the responsibility for overall security of Israelis for the purpose of safeguarding their internal security and public order.
Related Reading – The Oslo Accords: Searching for Peace
The Cairo Agreement, Oslo II Accords
The subsequent “Cairo Agreement” of 1994 envisioned an emerging Palestinian police force that would be comprised of 9,000 officers. Israel, which had serious reservations about providing arms to this new entity, insisted on maintaining veto power over every Palestinian recruit. In this vein, Israel allowed for the creation of a force with access to a maximum of 7,000 firearms, 120 medium and heavy machine guns and 45 armored vehicles.
But that number was increased to 30,000 (12,000 for the West Bank and 18,000 for the Gaza Strip) in the Oslo II Accords, which was signed in September 1995. That deal also called for the establishment of a “Joint Coordination and Cooperation Committee for Mutual Security Purposes,” the goal of which was to “guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
The newly formed Palestinian security force was quickly marred by corruption and nepotism. Then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was known to appoint family, friends and even political adversaries to the service in order to provide them with steady jobs at bloated salaries.
Mohammed Dahlan, the PA’s former security chief in Gaza in 1997 reported that, “‘We have 36,000 people of whom we only need 10,000. This huge number is a burden on the PA and a burden on the security organ. We view it as a social issue because I cannot tell a prisoner who spent 15 years in jail that I have no job for him.”
Related Reading: The Palestinian Liberation Organization: What is the PLO?
Despite the corruption, Palestinian forces were initially largely successful in working together with their Israeli counterparts to uphold security. The PA instructed officers to dismantle terrorist infrastructure, arrest those opposed to any dealings with the Jewish state, and regulate the possession of weapons.
But there was always a struggle within the Palestinian leadership about the extent to which it should cooperate with Israel. After all, many in the PA still promoted the use of violence to overcome what they viewed as Israel’s occupation.
The Second Intifada
That internal turmoil, in turn, exploded into what is known as the Second Intifada. After Arafat rejected Israel’s generous peace offer at Camp David in 2000, he unleashed a massive terrorist campaign against Israel, in which Palestinian security forces participated.
One incident forever etched in the minds of many Israelis encapsulates the degree of the PA’s deception. On October 12, 2000, two Israeli soldiers wearing civilian clothing accidentally drove into Ramallah. They were identified and taken to the local Palestinian police station, where they were beaten and stabbed to death before being thrown out of a window. All the while a Palestinian mob cheered on the perpetrators.
Following two more years of incessant attacks, most strikingly in the form of suicide bombings, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield in March 2002. One of the primary targets of the military campaign was the Palestinian security forces, much of which was dismantled due to many of its members’ involvement in terrorist activities, including the murder and maiming of thousands of Israelis.
Once a semblance of calm was restored, the US launched an international effort geared toward rebuilding the PA’s forces, ostensibly to foster cooperation with Israel.
The Israel-Palestinian ‘Roadmap’
On June 23, 2002, then-US president George W. Bush presented his new vision for Middle East peace that included an Israeli-Palestinian “roadmap.” The initiative was spearheaded by the so-called Quartet, comprised of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia. The Palestinian government agreed to a “100-day plan” to introduce reforms and restructure its security forces; this, as a prerequisite for making peace and garnering global recognition of a Palestinian state.
Phase I of the roadmap was titled, “Ending terror and violence, normalizing Palestinian life, and building Palestinian institutions.” The opening words read:
The Palestinians immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence according to the steps outlined below; such action should be accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by Israel. Palestinians and Israelis resume security co-operation based on the Tenet work plan to end violence, terrorism, and incitement through restructured and effective Palestinian security services.
Disengagement, Annexation and Beyond
The security relationship with Israel and the Palestinians resumed and has continued in the West Bank despite Hamas’ takeover of Gaza following the Jewish state’s 2005 disengagement from the coastal enclave. The cooperation has had mutually beneficial effects. For example, in January 2016 PA security commander Majed Faraj reported that his forces had thwarted 200 terror attacks against Israel in the three previous months alone.
In response, Faraj was verbally attacked by the leaders of three Palestinian factions. A Hamas spokesman said that it was clear that “protecting the security of the occupation [Israel] had become part of the ideology of the Palestinian security forces.” The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine insisted that the PA was “burying the Intifada” and that Ramallah’s “role had always been to serve the security interests of the occupation.” The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine called Faraj’s admission “a political scandal.”
Related Reading – The Hamas Charter: A Manifesto for Destroying Israel
Accordingly, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has in the past repeatedly threatened to end security coordination with Israel in order to enhance his “resistance” bona fides. Nevertheless, he has never fully done so given that the IDF, in particular, has played a huge role in stabilizing the PA and ensuring that the West Bank is not overrun by Hamas.
Overall, then, it is unsurprising that Abbas announced an end to security relations with Israel in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to annex as early as July 1 parts of the West Bank in accordance with President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
It is perhaps even less surprising that PA officials now seem bent on renewing the partnership, a move most of Israeli officialdom would surely welcome.
In addition to reducing the amount of violence in both the West Bank and Israel, any and every line of communication that remains open keeps hope alive for resolving the century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Featured Image: Palestinian National Security Forces via Wikimedia Commons
