Egypt has accelerated a process of training the Gaza police, and European countries are seeking to follow suit, according to reports by AFP and UAE-based news site Al-Ain News.
“A Palestinian official revealed details of the extensive training program that Egypt began months ago to qualify members of the Palestinian police in preparation for their deployment inside Gaza,” Al-Ain News reported.
Al-Ain News is generally considered to be reliable when it comes to these types of sources. Egypt and the UAE are close friends, and both want stability in Gaza. AFP reported some of the same information.
The new effort to train the police “comes within the framework of broader security and political arrangements aimed at rebuilding the internal security structure in Gaza and establishing an independent and non-politicized Palestinian transitional authority, in accordance with the plan of US President Donald Trump, which was recently endorsed by the UN Security Council,” Al-Ain News reported.
The United Nations has backed Trump’s peace plan, and the ceasefire began on October 13.
The bodies of two hostages are still being held in Gaza. While countries want to see the ceasefire move to a new phase, Israel wants the last two hostages to return. There are still clashes in Gaza.
The story about the police trainees is interesting. The program supposedly began many months ago, as early as March, during the previous ceasefire, which began in January.
Palestinians train in Egypt to police Gaza after war ends
“Over 500 Palestinian officers and personnel received intensive training over [a period of] two months,” Al-Ain News reported. “By the end of September, new groups had arrived [and were] undergoing a similar program that included physical and security training, as well as political and awareness lectures, with the aim of establishing a police force qualified to operate in a post-war environment.”
The police were trained in “unprecedented field and technical skills, especially in dealing with crossings, borders, and modern inspection devices,” he report said. “They expressed their desire to serve the sector through an ‘independent force that is not linked to any external agendas’ and capable of restoring security to the war-weary population.”
The plan to train the police came about as a result of Hamas-Fatah talks brokered by Egypt. Fatah is the leading group in the Palestinian Authority. Hamas expelled the PA and Fatah from Gaza in 2007 in an illegal coup.
Egypt and the Palestinian factions envisioned 5,000 police being trained for the PA and paid by the PA, the report said. They would then be integrated into the Hamas-run police force in Gaza, which also had about 5,000 officers.
“Both forces will operate under the supervision of the ‘Independent Competencies Committee,’ a committee agreed upon by the Palestinians to temporarily administer the Gaza Strip after the war, free from political interference,” the report said.
“President Mahmoud Abbas directed Interior Minister Ziad Hab Al-Reeh to follow up on the matter and cooperate closely with the Egyptian authorities,” a Palestinian source told AFP.
Furthermore, Al-Ain News reported, “Cairo is training Palestinian police officers to deal with advanced surveillance systems and modern security detection technologies, as part of rebuilding the border security system from scratch.”
The EU is also interested. From November 14 -20, reports indicated the EU could help support up to 3,000 trained police for Gaza. It wants to train thousands of police, and it already have an existing EUPOL COPPS program in the West Bank.
The EU had been involved in an EU-backed force in 2006 aimed at helping the Rafah crossing. This was called EUBAM.
“The next phase will require a large police force capable of imposing stability,” a European source said.
Meanwhile, “a well-informed Palestinian source says that the Egyptian program is part of this tripartite framework between Washington, Cairo, and Ramallah, and that understandings on security details are progressing at an accelerated pace,” the report said.
Hamas apparently wants to know what powers the new police may have. Many countries seem reluctant to deploy forces as part of an international force to Gaza. Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and other countries have been mentioned.
The UAE reportedly is not inclined to send forces, but it helps in other ways.
“The training courses in Cairo focus on sensitive issues, most notably border and crossing management, an issue that will be key to the next phase,” Al-Ain News reported.
One lieutenant in the unit said Palestinians had “received training on border control and dealing with modern security screening devices, stressing that the skills acquired will contribute to maintaining security and preventing smuggling and infiltration after the war,” the report said.
He had fled Gaza with his family before the war began, he said, adding that he wants to see a “strong and professional police force is the cornerstone for restoring normal life in the sector.”
How will the police be independent and integrate with the current forces in Gaza that are linked to Hamas or the PA? Will the population accept the new police?
AFP also examined Israeli and American efforts.
“Cairo appears to be the most present and influential player in the process of rebuilding security in Gaza, amid rare internal Palestinian coordination and international support that hopes to prevent a repeat of scenarios of power vacuum and security collapse,” the report said.