KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip, 31 August 2005 — The Palestinian security officers patrol the border of the former Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal, looking distinctly uneasy as if they expect someone to shout out traitor for attempting to fend off attacks on the Israeli Army.
“If I let the militants launch an attack, the Israelis will retaliate and then a lot of people will be killed. We don’t want anyone to die,” one of the three members of the national security force unit says as he surveys the teenagers peering out from the area’s dilapidated housing blocks.
Such scenes of cooperation, unthinkable before Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, have become reality as Israeli and Palestinian security forces resume a tentative and grudging partnership after the five-year Intifada.
From 1994 until the Intifada’s explosion in September 2000, Israeli and Palestinian security officers performed daily joint patrols and worked out of stations called District Coordination Offices (DCOs), to resolve frictions in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Those patrols stopped with the Intifada and many of the DCOs closed down. However, the Palestinian performance during Israel’s mid-August Gaza withdrawal has revived the dormant security partnership and elicited rare praise from Israel’s commanders, who are more accustomed to accusing Palestinian forces of militant activities. After completing its mission to evict all the 8,000 Gaza settlers on August 22, soldiers are expected to remain in Gaza for around three more weeks as the settlers’ homes are demolished and troops dismantle their equipment.
“It’s true by the disengagement plan, the security connection has got stronger,” Israel’s military spokesman for the Gaza Strip, Lieutenant Yossi Pzemach, told AFP. For their part, the Palestinians describe Israel’s Gaza withdrawal as their first real teamwork in months, but complain they remain the weaker party in the relationship, caught at the whim of Israeli dictates.
“Traditionally, we had good relations with Israeli officers. The problem is how much can the officer I’m meeting with deliver. How much can he help solve my problems?” says Col. Jamal Khayed, the commander of Palestinian forces in the southern Gaza Strip.
Khayed believes his Israeli counterparts are sent to enforce orders from up high in the military and political echelon and not to strike compromise with the Palestinians. He cites the Israeli-controlled Abu Holi checkpoint, which cuts off the Gaza Strip from north to south, as an example of Israel’s lack of sensitivity. The checkpoint, soon to be dismantled, is an endless source of frustration for Palestinians, who can wait hours on end for the Israeli army to open the roadway.
“If they open Abu Holi, they’ll say we’ll give you a 20-car convoy. If I tell them that’s not enough for me, they turn me down. I know they can give me more, but all they are thinking about is their security side,” Khayed says. “Some of them feel if they give us a few concessions, that’s already too much.”Khayed says his 6,000-strong force has thwarted militant plots and arrested a few would-be attackers aiming to fire rockets at the Israeli troops busy completing the pullout from southern Gaza settlements.
The job is a difficult one for the Palestinians after years of fighting, but Khayed says he is not doing it for altruistic reasons. “It’s not easy. I’m dealing with the Israeli officers because they are leaving Gaza. I couldn’t deal with them if they were staying.”
