Israel Matzav

Fatah 'policemen' avoid the unemployment line?

Surely you didn't expect them to find new careers now, did you?

On Sunday, I reported that some 30,000 'policemen' from the 'moderate' Fatah organization were going to be laid off:

The 'Palestinian Authority' has announced plans to fire some 30,000 'policemen,' many of whom don't report for work anyway, but all of whom have arms. Those of you who pay taxes in countries that finance the 'Palestinian Authority' will love the rationale for hiring all these useless people in the first place: The international community was paying for them anyway. That was in the bad old days of Yasser Arafat, but nothing has changed since Arafat's death. Wait. There's more.

But the move, which will leave about 30,000 policemen unemployed, has drawn sharp criticism from some Fatah leaders and security officials, who warned over the weekend that it would trigger a "revolt" against the PA leadership and destabilize security in the West Bank.

A senior Fatah official said that it was "inconceivable" that the PA would reduce the number of its policemen while Hamas was recruiting more men to its security forces in the Gaza Strip.

"I don't know whose idea this is, but it's a very dangerous one that will only weaken Fatah in the West Bank," he said. "Instead of getting rid of the policemen, we should be looking for more to join our security forces."

The PA security forces have some 80,000 men and women on their payroll. However, it is estimated that nearly half of them don't report to work and actually have no real jobs.

The PA has an unusually high ratio of security forces to civilians. Agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel in 1994 and 1995 limited the PA security forces to some 30,000.

Under pressure from the US and EU, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad recently agreed to reduce the number of policemen in the West Bank by half.

This morning, the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh reports that 'scores' of 'Palestinian' 'policemen' from Fatah - apparently those who have been targeted by 'layoffs' - have been 'defecting' to Fatah al-Islam, a group that is affiliated with al-Qaeda:

According to the sources Hamas's Interior Ministry, dozens of Fatah-affiliated policemen who recently lost their jobs have joined the al-Qaida-linked group. The Army of Islam is headed by Abu Muhammad al-Ansari, who is also known as Mumtaz Dughmush.

Ansari is a former PA Preventive Security Service officer in the Gaza Strip. [I would guess that every man over the age of 30 in the Gaza Strip is a "former PA Preventive Security Service officer." CiJ] He belongs to the Dughmush clan, whose members have kidnapped several foreign nationals, including BBC reporter Alan Johnston, and bombed Internet cafes, hair salons and restaurants.

The Army of Islam, which is described by some Palestinian security officials as al-Qaida's branch in Palestine, was one of three groups that participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in June 2006. The other two groups were Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees.

But Hamas has since distanced itself from the Army of Islam, whose members have been kept away from Schalit. It did so after suspicions were aroused in Hamas that Ansari had received money from Fatah security officials to reveal the whereabouts of the soldier.

Tensions between Hamas and the Army of Islam reached a boiling point immediately after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. The Army of Islam initially refused to release Johnston, but later did so after its leaders struck a deal with Hamas.

According to the agreement, the group was permitted to retain its weapons on condition they only be used to attack Israel. Over the past few months, the Army of Islam has been involved in the smuggling of large amounts of weapons and explosives into the Gaza Strip from Sinai, according to PA security officials.

They told the Post members of the group had established close ties with al-Qaida operatives in Egypt and other Arab and Islamic countries. Last week, Egyptian security forces captured two members of the Army of Islam as they were trying to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.

A top Hamas official in Gaza City described Ansari as a "deranged and illiterate" man who was obsessed with [Jordanian arch-terrorist] Abu Musab Zarqawi, the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "This man can't even read or write," he said. "But he's dangerous." [That probably describes a sizable percentage of Hamas' 'security forces' as well. CiJ]

The official confirmed that the Army of Islam had recruited scores of Fatah policemen. He said documents seized by Hamas showed that Ansari and his men were on the payroll of one of the PA security forces and that they had been receiving monthly payments of $27,000.

"They will take money from anyone, even from people they consider infidels and apostates," the Hamas official said.

As if Hamas and other Islamists won't take money from 'infidels'? What exactly is jizya?

Please take this story with a grain of salt. First, there is some question as to the identity of the party for whom the Dugmash's work. Second, whether or not they work with Hamas, the Army of Islam was reported to have received a considerable ransom for Alan Johnston, and may well have means of employing all these 'policemen.' But Hamas is not exactly a reliable source for anything and this story may have been planted as part of Hamas' ongoing war with Fatah.

I want to give you some perspective about the numbers of 'Palestinian' 'policemen':

The New York City Police Department has about 37,800 officers that cover an area of about 830 sq. km (322 sq. miles) for about 8.2 million residents. That's about .46% of the NYC population are NYPD police officers.

The West Bank by comparison has 80,000 police officers that cover 5,860 sq km for about 2.5 million residents. About 3.2% of the West Bank population are members of the PAPD.

I think the 80,000 number was meant to include the Fatah 'policemen' in the Gaza Strip, so we need to add another 365 sq. km (141 sq. miles) and another 1.5 million residents. So we come to 6225 square kilometers and 4 million residents. Still a much higher ratio than New York City. But then, they have lots of 'crime' to fight, don't they?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:41 AM