Alwaght- Relations between the Israeli regime and the Palestinian Authority, as a representative of the pro-compromise tendency in Palestine, went strained after the US President Donald Trump moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Things even deteriorated between the two after Tell Aviv announced it was negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas resistance movement with Egypt and Qatar mediation. This announcement was met with a response from the Central Council of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) which told the Palestinian Authority to suspend recognition of Israeli state and stop security and intelligence cooperation with Tel Aviv.
The threat to cut security cooperation with the Israelis is not new and the PLO leaders repeatedly have resorted to this threat to press Israeli regime. Khalid Abu Taha, an Arab-Israeli journalist in October 2014 said that Abbas 58 times threatened to cut security ties with Tel Aviv.
But what is the nature of security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli regime? How its cutting will affect the Israeli security? What’s behind Abbas threats? And does he have the real capability and will to cut them?
What is at stake?
The cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli regime dates back to the Oslo Accords, signed in the early 1990s.
According to the agreement, a strong police force was planned to be created to secure the Palestinian territories.
The Oslo Accord II, Article XII reads that In order to guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Council shall establish a strong police force.
According to the deal, the police force was established. Up to 1996, the PLO recruited over 35,000 police forces for the end. This force now accounts for over 44 percent of the state workers of the Palestinian Authority.
When in 1994, Yasser Arafat, former PLO head, entered Gaza and ruled the region, his security apparatus was fully in control there.
When in 2000 the first Intifada against the Israeli occupation erupted, many security personnel joined the popular revolt. The arms in their hands were used against the Israelis. Reacting, the Israeli regime destroyed much of the security apparatus in a bid to contain the uprising.
Under the Israeli pressure and with the US design, Arafat in 2003, announced a “roadmap for peace” and reorganized the security forces. On April 30, 2003, Arafat issued a presidential decree calling for a national security council to be formed. The NSC was planned to oversee the activity of the Palestinian National Authority, or PNA.
The power was passed to Abbas after the suspicious death of Arafat. What made difference in Arafat-affirmed peace roadmap in comparison to the earlier plans was emphasize on security and intelligence partnership between the Palestinian and Israeli security apparatuses. Abbas assumption of power materialized the plan and the Americans managed to send a coordinating delegation to the West Bank.
Abbas staged reforming the security body after the 2005 election as president of the Palestinian Authority. On 14 April of the same year, he said that in accordance with the 2004 announcement of Arafat, 12 security factions of Palestine should be categorized under three parts:
First part: National Security Forces (led by National Security Minister)
Second part: Interior Security Forces (led by Interior Minister and commanded by Interior Security Director General)
Part three: General Intelligence Service (led by the president and the service's chief)
While the Israeli leaders admired the move, many Palestinians did not hide their pessimism to it, arguing that the categorization of the security services set up a structure guaranteeing the Israeli security. Secret documents obtained by some Palestinian circles suggest that the Palestinian Security Services (PSS) were interested to kill Palestinian citizens to prove that security and order were tightly held in their areas of service.
Mazin Qumsiyeh, a scientist and civil society activist in Beit Lahm, said that the Oslo Accords have been effectively transformed into policing treaties making the PSS use force in the West Bank on behalf of Tel Aviv. Likewise, Khaled Abu Tameh, Hamas spokesman, in 2016 lashed out at the PSS, maintaining that the organization was serving the Israeli occupation and fighting the intifada. He added that Protecting the security of the occupied territories was part of the Security Services’ ideology.
Majid Faraj, the current PSS chief, six months after intifada broke out in 2016 against the Israelis, said that his forces foiled 200 individual attacks against the Israelis. This show how the PSS deterrence works for Tel Aviv. PPS (Palestinian Preventive Service), a subdivision of the PSS, works to prevent retaliatory attacks by Palestinians. Reports suggest that some 5-10,000 Palestinian are imprisoned by the service, many of them members of the resistance factions like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
In March 2016, Britain-based Arab human rights organization (AOHR-UK), reported in 2015 the PSS detained at least 1715 civilians, including students, journalists, women, and children. Some 1000 of the detainees already served jail terms in the Israeli prisons. Reports also talked about tortures and solitary confinement.
Amira Hass, a prominent Israeli journalist, in an op-ed for Haaretz in 2016 questioned the Palestinian Authority’s logic for holding a trial for Basil A’araj, a Palestinian resistance fighter, who along with other four, was killed by the Israeli forces.
Hass said that Palestinian Authority’s crackdown on demonstrations against A’araj's trying indicated a strong commitment by PSS to Israeli security. She added that PSS supplied useful info to Shin Bet (Shabak) that led to locating and killing A’araj.
Israeli journalist Neri Jilber in a New York Times article in 2017 wrote, citing a Palestinian security official, Israeli and Palestinian security officials hold regular meetings to discuss common threats. They, Jilber noted, agree that Hamas is their top threat.
Furthermore, General Gadi Shani of the Israeli army, in 2016, cited by Arabi 21 website, said the Palestinian Authority security services provide Tel Aviv with data to deter Hamas operations and its divisions. He added that the provided intelligence crucially helped the Israelis to improve their security conditions.
Abbas and Gaza blockade
The above-mentioned information apparently shows deep Palestinian Authority-Tel Aviv security cooperation. This partnership is much needed for the Israelis to save the occupied territories without high financial and military costs.
So, it can be noted that Abbas threats of cutting security collaboration will be taken seriously by the Netanyah's regime. In some cases, the Israelis met Abbas demands as concessions. In August 2017, Israeli regime tightened security by blocking Al-Aqsa Mosque to prayers, set up checkpoints in the holy place’s entry, and installed security cameras after clashes sparked following the storming of the mosque by the Israeli settlers. Reacting to the incident, Abbas threatened to cut cooperation with the Israelis. Tel Aviv shortly after reopened the mosque and removed the checkpoints and cameras in the place.
Aware of such a need by Tel Aviv, Abbas wants over-a-decade Gaza siege to remain in place and pressures built on Hamas. He reportedly talked to Egypt, a party seeking to broker Israeli-Hamas truce deal, in an effort to prevent an agreement.
But the Israeli leaders find ceasefire the best choice now as Gaza border protests, dubbed “Great March of Return", continue, Palestinian incendiary balloons inflict damages on the Israeli farms, Hamas enhances its rocket power, and the global public are angry with Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. Continued Gaza blockade now does not serve the Israeli regime's interests.
