Palestinian Police Officer Commits Terror Attack. Where's the Coverage?

...According to a March 18, 2016 United States Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, U.S. Foreign Aid to Palestinians, that security aid is “aimed at countering” U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and “establishing the rule of law for an expected Palestinian state.” What that Palestinian state might look like can perhaps be discerned from its institutions and apparent values and those tasked with upholding them.

Sean Durns..
CAMERA Snapshots..
03 November '16..
Link: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2016/11/wheres_the_coverage_palestinia_17.html

A Palestinian Authority (PA) police officer attacked and wounded three Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers on Oct. 31, 2016. The terrorist assault, by PA security forces officer Muhammed Turkeman, went ignored by major U.S. news media outlets.

According to The Times of Israel, Turkeman approached an IDF checkpoint called Focus that is outside of the Jewish community of Beit El, and “opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle at the troops stationed there (“Palestinian cop wounds 3 IDF soldiers in a shooting attack,” Oct. 31, 2016).” Turkeman was shot and killed by IDF forces, but not before he had managed to wound three of them, one seriously.

A Lexis-Nexis search of U.S. print news media, including The Washington Post, USA Today, The Washington Times and USA Today, showed not a single mention of the terrorist attack.

Fatah, the movement that dominates the PA and is often labeled “moderate” by many in the Western press, celebrated the terror attack. In a Nov. 1, 2016 report, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit organization which monitors Arab media in eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), pointed out that on their Facebook page Fatah praised Turkeman as a “heroic martyr” and a “martyr police officer.”

PMW noted that Fatah also shared an image on social media of Turkeman in his police uniform and carrying an AK-47. Additionally, “A picture of the Al-Aqsa Mosque appeared together with photos of the terrorist in one of the posts. This connects the terrorist and his attack to the ‘defense and protection’ of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, perpetuating the Palestinian Authority's libel that the al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger from an Israeli attack.”

Palestinian Authority no-go zones are a haven for terrorists - by Stephen Flatow

Because that's how even the "moderate" Palestinian leaders really feel.

Stephen. M. Flatow..
01 July '16..
israelnationalnews.com..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/19123#.V3iyYNR97wc..

The US State Department officials and think tank "experts" who are always loudly talking up the so-called "security cooperation" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority must have been howling with delight when they saw Tuesday's headlines.

A gun battle between PA security forces and a Palestinian fugitive in Nablus! Gunfire between Palestinians in Ya'abad! A curfew imposed by the police!

Finally, it seemed, the "security cooperation" cheerleaders could point to evidence of the PA cracking down on Palestinian terrorists. At long last, they could silence the skeptics who have doubted the PA's commitment to fighting terror.

But all that crowing stopped when they got past the headlines.

It turns out that the Palestinian fugitive in Nablus was a criminal, not a terrorist. The PA security forces were chasing him because he had just shot into a PA policeman's home, wounding the man's wife and daughter. The gun battle in Ya'abad was not between terrorists and policemen. It was between two rival Palestinian clans. The curfew was imposed not to stop terrorism, but to calm tempers in the clans' dispute over a wedding hall.

The PA police and security forces do not use curfews or similar measures to combat terrorists. They do not chase fugitive terrorists. In fact, the areas under PA control where terrorists reside, train, and store their weapons are No-Go Zones.

The existence of Palestinian No-Go Zones is something that State Department types and Jewish "peace" activists don't like to talk about. But every once in a while a journalist will let the truth slip. On March 23, 2014, the New York Times published a report about Israeli troops going into the PA-ruled area of Jenin in pursuit of terrorists. The reporter needed to explain why it is that the Israelis, and not the PA police, were doing the pursuing. The reason, she said, was that although the Jenin refugee camp is under the "full control" of the Palestinian Authority, "the Palestinian [security forces] did not generally operate in refugee camps."

The Jenin refugee camp is precisely the sort of area where the PA should be operating, if it was serious about fighting terrorism. Jenin is a notorious hotbed of terrorism. According to the BBC, Palestinians call it "the Martyrs' Capital" and at least 28 suicide bombers came from the camp during 2001-2003 alone.

Yet the PA's fabled "security cooperation" with Israel is nowhere to be found in Jenin. There the terrorists organize, plot, and prepare to launch their next murderous attacks against Israelis, without the slightest interference from Israel's "friends" in the PA security forces.

Terrorist attacks, security cooperation and the IDF's misplaced trust in the PA - by Caroline Glick

The now five month old Palestinian terror campaign is entering a new phase, with direct attacks inside Israeli communities becoming a new major threat.

Caroline Glick..
Our World/JPost..
02 February '16..

Amjad Sakari made no effort to hide his feelings and intentions towards Israel. The soldier in the Palestinian security forces filled his Facebook page with paeans to Saddam Hussein. Last weekend he published two posts indicating his imminent plan to carry out a terrorist attack.

In other words, if the PA forces he served had been serious about preventing their members from carrying out terrorist attacks, they could have easily prevented Sakari from driving to an IDF checkpoint between Ramallah and Beit El Sunday morning, opening fire and wounding three soldiers – one critically. Sakari, who was killed in the course of his attack, was the third member of the US-backed PA security forces who engaged in terrorism in the past two months.

On December 3, Mazen Ariba, an officer in the PA's US-sponsored Preventive Security Forces opened fire on Israelis at the Hizma checkpoint north of Jerusalem. Ariba wounded two Israelis – one critically – before he was shot and killed.

Ariba, was PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat's nephew. Erekat made a very public condolence call to Ariba's home. Ariba was posthumously hailed as a hero.

Two weeks ago, the Shin Bet arrested Ala'a Barkawi, an officer in the PA's US-supported intelligence services. Barkawi was a member of a three-man terror cell that carried out a shooting attack against IDF forces operating in Tulkarm earlier last month.

Sunday night Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu demanded that PA President Mahmoud Abbas condemn the terrorism carried out by forces operating under his command. Abbas rejected Netanyahu's demand and instead doubled down in supporting terrorism.

According to Channel 2, in US-mediated discussions between the two leaders, Abbas demanded that Israeli hand over Sakari's body.

The IDF's relationship with the Palestinian security forces is becoming a source of concern. The now five month old Palestinian terror campaign is entering a new phase, with direct attacks inside Israeli communities becoming a new major threat.

While many commanders on the ground in Judea and Samaria hold few illusions about the long-term viability of their cooperation with their US-trained Palestinian counterparts, senior IDF commanders serve as their greatest advocates and apologists. Following the murders of Dafna Meir and Shlomit Krigman late last week, the IDF's senior commanders insisted yet again that Israel must do nothing to harm the PA security forces.

Sakari's attack didn't dampen their enthusiasm.

Mr. Kerry. About That Israeli “Partner” for Peace?

...Maybe Kerry was behind in his news feed. And maybe no one told him that the Palestinians’ chief peace negotiator was busy Saturday, while Kerry was speaking, paying honor to terror.

Elliott Abrams..
Pressure Points..
06 December '15..

Last week a Palestinian terrorist named Mazen Aribah shot two Israelis, just north of Jerusalem. What made this incident especially noteworthy was that Aribah was also a Palestinisn Authority police officer.

How does the PA react to such a terrible event, where one of its own officers commits an act of terror? By honoring him. On Saturday, Saeb Erekat visited the home of Aribah’s family to pay his respects to Aribah, who had been killed by Israeli police at the scene of his attacks.

Erekat is in fact the chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel as well as a high PLO official, so one may say the path to peace is in the hands of a man who thinks it appropriate to honor terrorists.

The torture of Palestinian prisoners that the Guardian won’t report

Though we’ve often charged the Guardian with consistently engaging in ‘activist journalism’ – searching for evidence to buttress preconceived pro-Palestinian conclusions – this observation is likely only half correct.

Adam Levick..
CiF Watch..
16 June '13..

In late February, the Guardian devoted six separate news items (three stories and three photo posts) to the death of a Palestinian – named Arafat Jaradat – in an Israeli jail. The stories, which all portrayed Jaradat and his ’cause’ in a sympathetic light, focused on baseless allegations by the PA that Jaradat, an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade member who was arrested for terror activity, died as the result of torture – claims which were contradicted by the autopsy performed by Israel’s top forensic pathologists.

Here are the Guardian’s reports:

Item 1 (Phoebe Greenwood)

Item 2 (Associated Press)

Item 3 (Phoebe Greenwood)

Items 4 and 5: (Two photos relating to Jaradat from the same Feb. 25 edition of the Guardian’s ‘Picture Desk Live’)

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.

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Mr. Ambassador - Such an impertinence by a foreign envoy is hardly thinkable.

The former PA security man makes it clear that the intention is to inflict unbearable pain while leaving a minimum of identifiable traces... The whole of the ambassador's piece, like its opening, rings with the unqualified confidence of old-time apologies for the Soviet regime.

Malcolm Lowe..
Gatestone Institute..
01 May '13..

What if the Israeli ambassador in Britain were to write an article in a major British daily, showering praise upon the Irish police? And demanding changes in British policy toward Ireland? Such an impertinence by a foreign envoy is hardly thinkable.

Yet the converse recently occurred in Israel. The British ambassador published an op-ed on Ynet, the internet site of Israel's biggest daily, in which he praised the Palestinian police force and its British trainers. Israel, he urged, must give that force more scope for its activities, while the world must pour in more money. Even more incredible, his piece appeared eleven days after the British Daily Mail published a major article alleging that the Palestinian police, trained by UK policemen and MI6, were engaged in the systematic torture of suspects.

The Mail's Internet site has over a hundred million visitors a month, more than any other newspaper in the world. Some of its articles get hundreds of comments and these comments may attract thousands of likes and dislikes. Were the ambassador and his Foreign Office bosses aware of that major news source? If not, they had failed to do their homework. If they were, then the ambassador's article was a grotesque error of judgment and good taste.

The Daily Mail article is comprehensive and specific, accompanied by artists' representations of the methods of torture employed. The headline spells it out in detail: "Hooded, hanged and left in agony for hours on end: Palestinian security chief tells how he has tormented 'suspects' with MI6's knowledge... and reveals how Britain helps pay for it with £33m foreign aid." There are drawings of victims suspended from the ceiling and walls or bound on their backs across chairs.

The newspaper's informant, a former PA security man, makes it clear that the intention is to inflict unbearable pain while leaving a minimum of identifiable traces."I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "Torture is used. We have to protect our people." Only, it has become more refined. "In the Nineties, we used to torture them badly. We beat them hard and we made them like a car that doesn't function. But we were defending our home, the region and the rest of the world. I am happy it was justified."

He told the reporter that now "the preferred method is termed 'shabeh' – the hooding and tying of the prisoner in a variety of agonising positions for up to eight hours," a method that "takes considerable skill." As the PA security man put it: "You have to deal with it as if you were playing a guitar. Each case has its own speciality."

Celebrating in a "State" of chaos and anarchy

LOTL..
18 June '12..




Khaled Abu Toameh's latest piece, "Is the Palestinian Authority Losing Control in the West Bank?" is an absolute goldmine in terms of nuggets that can make one truly wonder, how can the Western supporters of the Palestinian Authority be so utterly clueless as to what they're investing in.

Here we go:

In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authority security forces have been launching a massive crackdown on anarchy and lawlessness in various parts of the West Bank. The crackdown was ordered by Abbas after he discovered what many Palestinians have known for a long time: that his security forces and Fatah loyalists are responsible for the chaos and anarchy. ... Dozens of Palestinian security officers, some of them holding very high ranks, have thus far been rounded up and transferred to a Palestinian prison in Jericho.

The officers, who were trained and armed by US and EU security experts over the past years, are suspected of involvement in various types of crime, including extortion, armed robbery, kidnappings, physical assaults and fraud. Some of them, according to Palestinian sources in the West Bank, are also suspected of involvement in trafficking weapons and drugs, The clampdown was ordered by Abbas following a series of incidents in Jenin, which reached their peak when unidentified gunmen openly tried to assassinate the Palestinian governor of the city, Kadoura Musa, who was not hurt in the assassination bid, but died a few hours later of a massive heart attack.

That the officers trained and armed by US and EU security experts have been involved in extortion, armed robbery, kidnappings, physical assaults and fraud ...involvement in trafficking weapons and drugs, not such a big deal evidently, no need to upset the apple-cart. Trying to assassinate the Governor of Jenin though may have been moving a bit too close for comfort for Mr. Abbas.

Tobin - Palestinian Politics Jenin Style

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
10 May '12..



In today’s New York Times, new Israel correspondent Jodi Rudoren writes of how the recently deceased Palestinian governor of the city of Jenin is being viewed as a “martyr” in the fight against gangs and the symbol of the failing struggle to transform the Palestinian Authority into a viable state. Qadoura Moussa, who died of a heart attack following an assassination attempt that is interpreted as part of the battle in which control of the streets is at stake, helped create the idea that there was a “Jenin model” in which good government would replace the mafia-style corruption and violence that had heretofore characterized Palestinian life.

Moussa’s death is rightly seen as yet another blow to Fayyadism, the term that Times columnist Thomas Friedman attached to the efforts of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to transform Palestinian society so as to allow for the rise of a rational modern state. But, as the insightful journalist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote just a day earlier on the website of the Gatestone Institute, the truth about the reality of life in Jenin has been apparent for years. The problem is, the foreign and Palestinian press was far too intimidated to report that the illusion of law and order in Jenin was always a lie.

Glick - Funding the enemy

Caroline Glick
carolineglick.com
20 September '11

http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2011/09/funding-the-enemy.php


Speaking Sunday at the UN's conference of donors to the Palestinian Authority, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon warned that while Israel supports economic assistance to the PA now, that is liable to change within the week.

As he put it, "Future assistance and cooperation could be severely and irreparably compromised if the Palestinian leadership continues on its path of essentially acting in contravention of all signed agreements which also regulate existing economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority."

Ayalon's position is eminently reasonable. Unfortunately, it contradicts utterly the official position of the Government of Israel.

The government's position was transmitted on Friday to the same donor conference that Ayalon was participating in. According to the government document, "Israel calls for ongoing international support for the PA budget and development projects that will contribute to the growth of a vibrant private sector, which will provide the PA an expanded base for generating internal revenue."

Israel's move was reportedly championed by the Defense Ministry and the IDF senior brass, which reportedly adamantly opposes cutting off any aid to the PA, including aid to the US-trained and financed Palestinian army in Judea and Samaria. As The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday, senior Defense Ministry officials argue that an aid cutoff is liable to lead to the PA's collapse and PA employees - which comprise the majority of Palestinian workers - may become violent.

As one Defense Ministry senior official told the paper, "It is important that we retain financial stability, even after their unilateral moves. Stopping money transfers could lead to a financial crisis which could lead to a violent escalation."

In other words, the Defense Ministry argues that if the donor countries stop paying off the Palestinian militias - including the US-trained and funded Palestinian army - then their supposedly moderate forces will turn to the terror business to support themselves.

Aside from being strategically insane, this position bespeaks an unjustifiable unwillingness on the part of the leftist-dominated Defense Ministry to understand the basic nature of the Palestinian cause and what it requires from Israel.

Following the Abbas-Hamas Accord: The Dangers of U.S. Aid to Palestinian Security Forces

By Arlene Kushner, David Bedein
Israel Resource Review
Center for Near East Policy Research
05 May '11


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


USSC PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT

In early 2005, the United States established the Office of the U.S. Security Coordina­tor. Lt. General Keith Dayton served for years as Coordinator and primary force in the development of its program. He has now been succeeded by Lt. General Michael Moeller.

The Hamas coup in Gaza, June 2007, convinced the White House and Congress to become serious about a PA force that could keep Hamas out of the West Bank. Some $370 million has been allocated to train and equip the National Security Forces and the Presidential Guard, primarily in Amman, Jordan.

The goal of this program, stated quite explicitly, was the formation of a Palestinian state. In 2009, General Dayton put a time frame of two years on the establishment of that state.

CRITIQUE

Multiple questions about the viability and advisability of the program must be raised, however, for there are conceptual flaws inherent in its planning. Americans, eager to see a moderate PA state that can defend itself against terrorism, may have been unrealistic.

A key issue is one of intent of PA troops. Numerous experts attest to the fact that there is no way for a training program to install loyalty to a state. Palestinian society is at core a traditional Arab society, with first loyalty to the clan (some of whose members might belong to Hamas).


The Fatah (PA) connection to Hamas over time was not attended to with sufficient seriousness. Separation between Fatah and Hamas was never as complete as commonly thought. Throughout the course of USSC training, the potential for the PA to join a unity coalition with Hamas existed. This raises the question of why the U.S. has been funding forces to combat Hamas when those very forces had the potential be controlled by Hamas.


Similarly, there have been misunderstandings about the PA position on anti-terrorism. General Ya’akov Amidroriii , who now serves at the National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu rexplained in 2009:


There is a huge difference in the Palestinian view between law enforcement, which is seen as legitimate, and anti-terrorism, which is NOT seen as legitimate. The U.S. confuses the two.


The PA has no laws against money laundering for terror groups; PA statutes do not define any group as a terrorist organization; The PA maintains no agreement to hand over those who have murdered Israelis to the Israeli government.


There has been no action against Hamas undertaken by PA security forces out of anti-terrorist ideological conviction or solely to protect Israel. PA actions have been pragmatic, and thus subject to reversal.


There is a history of PA forces having been trained by the U.S. turning their expertise and weapons against Israelis. Now there is concern that this may happen again - particularly if there is frustration if the state Dayton spoke about does not come to fruition. In recent days there have been incidents - including one death - that are of serious concern.


The human rights record of the PA security forces is horrendous, and there is serious question as to propriety of U.S. support, in light of the evidence.

With all of the above, the bottom line is that the PA has just signed a unity agreement with a terrorist faction overtly sworn to Israel’s destruction. American law may well prohibit further support for the PA in light of this situation.

 Read the full report of the Center for Near East Policy Research by clicking here.


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Take back Kever Yosef, TODAY!

David Wilder
The Jewish Community of Hebron
Nissan 20, 5771
4/24/2011

Text messages, received at seven in the morning, aren’t a good way to start the day. Today’s was no different. A terror shooting at Kever Yosef, Joseph’s tomb, in Shechem, left one Jew dead and others injured.

A little while later, arriving at Ma’arat HaMachpela for morning prayers, I asked a friend if he knew who’d been killed. When he answered Ben Yosef Livnat I froze. Benyo, as he was known, had been my neighbor. He had studied at Kollel Ohr Shlomo in Tel Rumeida for a few years. I saw him there every morning, studying “Hassidut,” usually “Likutai Me’oran,’ the teachings for Rebbi Nachman of Breslav, with a ‘chevruta’ a study partner, before the nine o’clock start of the regular day’s program. During his last year in the Torah program, he moved, with his wife and family, to Beit Hadassah. They lived in an apartment under ours for about a year, before moving to a Breslav neighborhood in Jerusalem.

Benyo dead!? Shot and killed!? At Kever Yosef!? Now, a few hours later, I still cannot fathom Benyo – Ben Yosef Livnat, no long among the living.

Benyo’s father, Noam, was severely wounded while serving in the IDF. Belonging to the Beitar movement, he was involved in Gush Etzion and later became religious. He helped initiate the Elon Moreh and Kedumim communities in Samaria, and later studied at the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva at Joseph’s tomb in Shechem. Benyo – Ben Yosef, was one of six children in the family and his name reflects the family’s bond with Joseph and Joseph’s tomb, where ironically, he was murdered.

Benyo is not the first Jew to lose his life as a result of total dedication to Joseph’s tomb and the Shomron – Samaria region. This holy site, was, according to the cursed Oslo Accords, supposed to remain under Israeli control, despite the fact that the city Shechem, was abandoned to Arafat and the Arabs. However, numerous violent attacks at the site led to the murder of Israeli Border policeman, Cpl. Madhat Yusuf, there in October, 2000. Yusuf, injured by Arab gunfire, bled to death at the tomb when Israeli forces were forbidden to entire the site and save him.

A week later, Hillel Lieberman, was murdered by Arabs while trying to access the tomb following Israel’s decision to abandon the area to the Arabs. A week and a half later Rabbi Binyamin Herling, also from Elon Moreh, was killed during a hike in an area just outside Shechem. He too bled to death after being wounded, when Israeli forces were forbidden to take actions necessary to end Arab shooting in the area.

Arabs destroyed the tomb, burning it to the ground. However Jews refused to abandon Joseph and leave this holy place Judenrein. For years Jewish worshippers have secretly visited the tomb, during the night and early morning, praying and reciting Psalms. Eventually the IDF began to offer ‘secure visits’ to the site. But the demand to permanently return to Joseph’s tomb continued, with many groups, including many Breslav Hassidim, frequenting the holy site. So it was that Ben Yosef Livnat and some of his friends arrived there early this morning for early morning Passover prayers. Arabs in the area, including armed terrorists in uniform, known as ‘palestinian police’ were used to seeing Jews arrive, pray, and then leave. However, this morning these terrorists opened fire on a few cars of Breslaver’s at the tomb, killing Benyo and wounding a few others, one of whom is in critical condition. Benyo, only twenty five years old, leaves a widow and four orphans, the oldest of whom is not yet five.

There are many conclusions to be reached following this horrid terrorist murder, on the eve of the last day of Passover. Again, and how many times must it be reiterated, Israel cannot and must not initiate so-called ‘security arrangements’ with the PA. Armed Arabs know only one use for their weapons, and that is, as has proven hundreds of times, is to murder Jews. Hundreds and thousands of Jews have been killed and injured by weapons provided to the Arabs by Israel and distributed to ‘palestinian police,’ that is, terrorists in uniform. How many more lives must be snuffed out until Israel’s leadership understands that our neighbors will continue to kill Jews, given the opportunity to do so. Why should we help them to kill our own people!?

But, the first, and most obvious step to be implemented is the return of Kever Yosef, Joseph’s tomb, to full Israeli control. Benyo’s murder will not stop Jews from praying at this site; to the contrary, I expect it will accelerate and increase Jewish presence at the site. But Israel must, must, must, make it clear to our neighbors that there is a price for killing of Jews. Joseph’s tomb is one of the holiest places in Israel, similar to Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and Ma’arat HaMachpela, the tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron. Why should such a sacred place remain in the hands of our enemy, who continues to desecrate it and kill Jews there!? It is our collective responsibility to ensure that Joseph’s tomb return's to Israel, and that responsibility obligates Israeli leadership, the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, and the entire Israeli cabinet (including Benyo’s aunt, Minister Limor Livnat), to meet today, and officially decide to return a permanent Israeli security presence to Kever Yosef, thereby allowing full, free, secure access to all Jews who so desire to worship there, day and night, three hundred and sixty five days a year. This is the only way to sanctify the memory of all those killed at this site and prevent further Jewish bloodshed at this most significant location in Israel.

Benyo was a wonderful person, a beautiful Jew and his murder will leave a huge gap in the lives of all who knew him. May his memory be blessed and may G-d comfort his widow, orphans, parents, brothers and sisters and all who knew and loved him.

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Security for the Palestinians from the Palestinians - and the CIA?

JINSA
Report #: 1,047
15 December '10

Normally, JINSA concerns itself primarily with security for Israel, and we have spent some time worrying about the future of the Palestinian National Security Force (NSF) armed and trained by a series of American generals. Today, however, we are concerned with the right of Palestinians to be secure from Palestinians- specifically from Palestinian security agencies funded by the United States and working in cooperation with the CIA.

A Palestinian source cited by Middle East Newsline (MENL) said U.S. intelligence has maintained its close ties with General Intelligence Service (GIS) and the Preventive Security Apparatus (PSA) despite reports of torture from international agencies and reports that several detainees have died in custody. And despite the Obama administration's ban on "abusive interrogation" methods by American personnel. Up to 1,000 Palestinians have been jailed during 2010. Western diplomats confirmed CIA support of the two security services and the CIA does not deny it, although in 2009 a CIA spokesman did deny a supervisory role. "The notion that this agency somehow runs other intelligence services ... is simply wrong," he said in the Guardian(UK) article. "The CIA ... only supports, and is interested in, lawful methods that produce sound intelligence."

We would hope so.

But in October, Human Rights Watch (normally more interested in alleged Israeli violations) announced its concern for two specific cases of possible torture by the PSA and said those were among more than 100 allegations of torture registered this year with the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), the official Palestinian human rights ombudsman, against security services in the West Bank. "The reports of torture by Palestinian security services keep rolling in," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch in an article on its website. "President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad are well aware of the situation."

And yet, the United States maintains its funding and support for the GIS and PSA.

(Read full "Security for the Palestinians from the Palestinians - and the CIA?")

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Is the US training Israel’s enemies?

There are strong reservations about the wisdom of the US training a Palestinian security force.


David Bedein/Arlene Kushner
Op-Ed/JPost
27 August '10

Posted before Shabbat

Israel recently approved the delivery of Russian armored personnel carriers for the Palestinian Authority, while it continues to laud American assistance to PA security forces.

The program in question began in March 2005, with the establishment of a US security coordinator team, headed by Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, who is due to step down from that post in the fall.

Plans then called for selected PA national security force troops to be trained and equipped by the US. The idea was to transform the old PLO terror militia into a professional force that would build a nation.

Five years later, with millions of dollars expended on this ongoing program, cogent reasons for doubting its wisdom present themselves.

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Ya’acov Amidror, former head of the IDF’s Research and Assessment Division, suggested last year that the Americans may be acting with “a certain naivete.” Concurring, an Arab journalist with connections to the PA has stated that “to expect political fruits from this is a mistake – an illusion.”

One of the more serious questions that has surfaced concerns the loyalty of the troops being trained. Dayton says they are loyal to “the Palestinian flag and the Palestinian people.”

Palestinian society, however, is founded on traditional Arab culture, whose first allegiance is to the clan (hamula), and not the nation.

(Read full article)

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Western Media Take a Pass on Palestinian Repression

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
17 August '10

Critics of Israel are fond of saying that a disproportionate focus on Israel’s failings is justified because of American support for the Jewish state. After all, they argue, no matter what goes on elsewhere, Israel’s activities, for good or ill, are in some measure the result of American generosity. But the same can also be said for the Palestinian Authority, whose government and armed forces are far more heavily subsidized by American taxpayers than those of Israel. But there remains little interest on the part of the media in exposing Palestinian misdeeds, besides which Israel’s foibles appear quite insignificant.

This unfortunate fact has been once again illustrated by the lack of interest on the part of the Western media in reporting the story of the PA’s imprisonment of seven Palestinian academics last week. Over at the Hudson Institute’s website, the Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh writes that Palestinian journalists did their best to interest their Western colleagues in the fate of these academics. Of course, Palestinian writers didn’t dare report this themselves, knowing all too well the fate of those who cross the PA security services.

(Read full post)

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Is the U.S. Building the Next Intifada?

The U.S. has sent almost $400 million to the PA to train their security forces since 2007. With no state in sight, fears that the arms and training will be directed at Israel have arisen.


P. David Hornik
pajamasmedia.com
28 July '10

Reported in Israel this week:

[Since 2007, the U.S. State Department] has invested $392 million in rehabilitating and training [Palestinian Authority] security forces … more than $160 million to fund certain units of the security forces, $89 million for vehicles and nonlethal equipment, $99 million for the renovation or construction of PA security forces’ installations and $22 million in programs to increase the forces’ capacity. The State Department has requested an additional $150 million for 2011.

The forces are trained mainly in Jordan, and then deployed in the West Bank. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, who has been in charge of this endeavor and is soon to be replaced by U.S. Air Force Major General Michael Moeller, said in May 2009:

With big expectations, come big risks. There is perhaps a two-year shelf life on being told that you’re creating a state, when you’re not.

He was clearly implying that the Palestinians were being trained for the purpose of becoming the security force of an imminent Palestinian state. Now, in July 2010, with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas refusing — despite heavy Western pressure — even to enter talks with Israel, the “big risks” Dayton referred to seem to be looming.

(Read full article)

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