Palestine Report - Unsafe streets
Unsafe streets
by Ahmad Sub Laban
PALESTINIANS WERE shocked on the morning of June 14 when media reports told of the killing of four people from the same family during a family feud. The incident took place around ten in the morning when 53-year-old Ahmad Abdel Aziz’s car was intercepted by two other cars carrying a number of masked, armed men on Yaffa Road north of Gaza City. They started shooting at the car also carrying his 30- and 26-year-old sons Mohammed and Riziq.
According to eyewitnesses, the shootout between the two sides resulted in the deaths of Abdel Aziz and his son Mohammed; Riziq was injured. Abdel Aziz Danyan Aziz, 30, a member of the armed group, was also killed. The attackers did not stop at that, however. After the gunfire, they kidnapped the injured but still alive Riziq, who was found dead a day later in front of the Martyrs Cemetery northeast of Gaza City.
Initial police investigations point to a major family dispute that led to this act of vengeance. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident – the Palestinian street has been the scene of increased violence among citizens and an almost uncontrollable situation of lawlessness and vigilantism.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) reports that during the second week of June alone this lack of security and intensified violence in the Palestinian territories claimed the deaths of seven people, including a 12-year-old boy. Over 20 were injured.
PCHR expressed deep concern in its June 15 statement about the continuing deterioration of the internal security conditions in light of the ever-growing phenomenon of misuse of weapons and lawlessness.
Both grassroots and official organizations have protested such incidents like last week’s shooting in Gaza and are demanding that tangible steps be taken to resolve the lack of security.
These organizations, including the security services, have begun to call for law and order, warning of a social breakdown if the chaos is not ceased. Most of these organizations put the blame on the Palestinian Authority. “If the Palestinian government fails to take control of the situation, then it should resign,” said Legislative Council (PLC) member Hatem Abdel Qader, adding that Prime Minister Qrei’ should also step down if he does not find a solution to the problem.
Abdel Qader also censured Interior Minister Nasr Yousef for his failure to take control of the internal situation, calling on him to build the security services on sound bases and principles. He says these principles should include establishing and enforcing rules to respect the hierarchy of the security services and minimize the disputes between them.
The average citizen is also fed up with the state of lawlessness, many feeling that their personal safety is currently at risk. Present during a shootout between two armed groups in Ramallah last week, 21-year-old Taher Salem says he no longer feels safe and is wary of even walking through the streets these days because of the recurrent gunfights that take place over the most trivial disputes.
Clearly shaken by his experience, Salem explained that at two in the afternoon on June 12, two gangs of armed men belonging to the Fateh-affiliated Aqsa Martyrs Brigades clashed with each other in Ramallah’s Manara Square city center.
“The streets were filled with people,” Salem said. “There was heavy shooting and two of the armed men were injured.” One was 26-year-old Mohammed Irheimi, and the other, 25-year-old Mohammed Farhoud, both from the nearby village of Beit Rima. According to the police investigation, the armed clash stemmed from a dispute between the two branches of the Brigades in Ramallah and Beit Rima.
Salem is also disenchanted with the police’s inability to quell such violence. “The police were there at the scene but they could not stop what happened. What could they do when they have neither the strength nor the prestige to have any influence?” he asked. “The fact that there could be an armed clash in the middle of Ramallah between Fateh components proves that our security services have no say in anything.”
Following this incident, Prime Minister Qrei’ announced that the Palestinian government does not put anyone above the law, saying all necessary deterrents were being taken, including executions and arrests, to put a stop to such security violations and the state of lawlessness.
Qrei’ said the PA would not allow for such transgressions and that those responsible would be held accountable. He also demanded that the security services rise to their responsibilities and face and defuse such situations.
“If there is not a stop to these security violations, then the government will have to suspend its responsibilities,” Qrei’ announced. “We cannot tell our people that we are a responsible government when at the same time people are being shot at and their property is being damaged.”
It seems that to some extent the government has taken this task to hand, though they have met with controversy and criticism in the process. On June 12, the PA executed four men convicted of murder, abduction, and robbery. The four were amongst a list of 55 men on death row, including 25 who were convicted of collaborating with Israel. Some observers saw this move as the PA’s final straw.
Sources close to President Abbas say he was not overly enthusiastic about the executions but had found himself forced to carry them out because of the continuing crimes and chaos, and that the final decision came after a three-month of review of civil and Shari’a law. In mid-2002, the late President Yasser Arafat imposed a moratorium on capital punishment after the PA was widely criticized by European Union countries and human rights organizations.
Spokesperson for the Interior Ministry Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said in a statement that the four executions were “one step in a comprehensive plan in response to the rise in the percentage of crime, assaults, and violations made outside of the law.”
After a June 8 session of the PLC, Interior Minister Yousef said that in Gaza, the PA would exert its utmost efforts to its chaos and lack of security. During the meeting he skewered the executive authority and the PLC, claiming that they had not done anything over the past ten years to buoy the security establishment, largely contributing to the current state of disorder.
In a response to questioning by 61 PLC members regarding the lawlessness in the Palestinian territories, Yousef said he assumed responsibility for the interior ministry with all the problems that had accumulated before his leadership, unsupported by anyone else. “We did not receive anything, either from the security establishment or from the PA ministries, not even a pen,” he said.
Yousef added in defense, “I received the security establishment tangled up in a huge mess of power [struggles], paralysis, and with gangs everywhere.” Yousef said he was surprised that PLC members had previously neglected the security services, especially as many of the members were once ministers and officials in the executive authority. Still, he says, the PLC was never held accountable for its responsibilities and no one ever helped to change anything.
Yousef said that there is no clear-cut framework for the security establishment, explaining that the PA worked to consolidate the numerous security services into three. However, he says, the “powerful players” would hinder or prevent any coordination of each branch’s performance of their mandated duties.
“We seek to build a clean security establishment without power centers and far from any political aspirations,” said Yousef. “But solving problems accumulated over ten years takes time and perseverance.”
During the session, Yousef blamed the Fateh Central Committee for the situation of Palestinian soldiers, who for the past ten years have been receiving a monthly wage of NIS880. “No one has tried to improve their salary or lives,” he insisted, blaming the committee of not living up to their responsibilities to these soldiers.
He added that the Palestinian soldier has been made to fight a battle he was not prepared for, and that no one morally, politically, or financially prepared Palestinian security officers for this situation. “So, we broke him and defeated him before he even entered the battlefield.”
The end result is that Palestinian soldiers or policemen find themselves faced with the huge challenge of halting the security chaos, which will require a lot of strength, effort, and patience in the coming period. Some security members say their prestige on the street has been broken. One policeman who called himself Mohammed, told the Palestine Report, “I work as a traffic officer in Ramallah. Many times I am faced with situations where there are traffic violations or people driving unlicensed cars. But I don’t write them tickets or even stop the violators because I am afraid that the family might take revenge on me if I do anything to them.”
Mohammed says that because for so many years the PA did not fulfill the work to restore peoples’ faith in the government, coupled with the repeated attacks on citizens and security services by Israeli occupation forces, the average citizen has lost respect for the security apparatus. The services cannot provide safety or protection to the people, they say, so the people have to protect themselves. This, therefore, is why lawlessness has prevailed.
“If the PA successfully imposes respect of the law and the security services succeed in unifying their branches and gain control over the Palestinian street, then everything everybody wants will be accomplished,” said PLC member Imad Falouji. Explaining that no one is above the law, Falouji added that the sole body responsible for implementing this principle is the PA with all its security services.
However, Falouji cautioned, the reality on the ground is much different than what should be. “Every party or faction thinks they have this power and they think they are above the law and the application of the law should be in the manner they desire, allowing them to make exceptions as they please. This is where the role of the PA comes in, by controlling this phenomenon before it spreads throughout the entire society and completely destroys it.” -Published
by Ahmad Sub Laban
PALESTINIANS WERE shocked on the morning of June 14 when media reports told of the killing of four people from the same family during a family feud. The incident took place around ten in the morning when 53-year-old Ahmad Abdel Aziz’s car was intercepted by two other cars carrying a number of masked, armed men on Yaffa Road north of Gaza City. They started shooting at the car also carrying his 30- and 26-year-old sons Mohammed and Riziq.
According to eyewitnesses, the shootout between the two sides resulted in the deaths of Abdel Aziz and his son Mohammed; Riziq was injured. Abdel Aziz Danyan Aziz, 30, a member of the armed group, was also killed. The attackers did not stop at that, however. After the gunfire, they kidnapped the injured but still alive Riziq, who was found dead a day later in front of the Martyrs Cemetery northeast of Gaza City.
Initial police investigations point to a major family dispute that led to this act of vengeance. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident – the Palestinian street has been the scene of increased violence among citizens and an almost uncontrollable situation of lawlessness and vigilantism.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) reports that during the second week of June alone this lack of security and intensified violence in the Palestinian territories claimed the deaths of seven people, including a 12-year-old boy. Over 20 were injured.
PCHR expressed deep concern in its June 15 statement about the continuing deterioration of the internal security conditions in light of the ever-growing phenomenon of misuse of weapons and lawlessness.
Both grassroots and official organizations have protested such incidents like last week’s shooting in Gaza and are demanding that tangible steps be taken to resolve the lack of security.
These organizations, including the security services, have begun to call for law and order, warning of a social breakdown if the chaos is not ceased. Most of these organizations put the blame on the Palestinian Authority. “If the Palestinian government fails to take control of the situation, then it should resign,” said Legislative Council (PLC) member Hatem Abdel Qader, adding that Prime Minister Qrei’ should also step down if he does not find a solution to the problem.
Abdel Qader also censured Interior Minister Nasr Yousef for his failure to take control of the internal situation, calling on him to build the security services on sound bases and principles. He says these principles should include establishing and enforcing rules to respect the hierarchy of the security services and minimize the disputes between them.
The average citizen is also fed up with the state of lawlessness, many feeling that their personal safety is currently at risk. Present during a shootout between two armed groups in Ramallah last week, 21-year-old Taher Salem says he no longer feels safe and is wary of even walking through the streets these days because of the recurrent gunfights that take place over the most trivial disputes.
Clearly shaken by his experience, Salem explained that at two in the afternoon on June 12, two gangs of armed men belonging to the Fateh-affiliated Aqsa Martyrs Brigades clashed with each other in Ramallah’s Manara Square city center.
“The streets were filled with people,” Salem said. “There was heavy shooting and two of the armed men were injured.” One was 26-year-old Mohammed Irheimi, and the other, 25-year-old Mohammed Farhoud, both from the nearby village of Beit Rima. According to the police investigation, the armed clash stemmed from a dispute between the two branches of the Brigades in Ramallah and Beit Rima.
Salem is also disenchanted with the police’s inability to quell such violence. “The police were there at the scene but they could not stop what happened. What could they do when they have neither the strength nor the prestige to have any influence?” he asked. “The fact that there could be an armed clash in the middle of Ramallah between Fateh components proves that our security services have no say in anything.”
Following this incident, Prime Minister Qrei’ announced that the Palestinian government does not put anyone above the law, saying all necessary deterrents were being taken, including executions and arrests, to put a stop to such security violations and the state of lawlessness.
Qrei’ said the PA would not allow for such transgressions and that those responsible would be held accountable. He also demanded that the security services rise to their responsibilities and face and defuse such situations.
“If there is not a stop to these security violations, then the government will have to suspend its responsibilities,” Qrei’ announced. “We cannot tell our people that we are a responsible government when at the same time people are being shot at and their property is being damaged.”
It seems that to some extent the government has taken this task to hand, though they have met with controversy and criticism in the process. On June 12, the PA executed four men convicted of murder, abduction, and robbery. The four were amongst a list of 55 men on death row, including 25 who were convicted of collaborating with Israel. Some observers saw this move as the PA’s final straw.
Sources close to President Abbas say he was not overly enthusiastic about the executions but had found himself forced to carry them out because of the continuing crimes and chaos, and that the final decision came after a three-month of review of civil and Shari’a law. In mid-2002, the late President Yasser Arafat imposed a moratorium on capital punishment after the PA was widely criticized by European Union countries and human rights organizations.
Spokesperson for the Interior Ministry Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said in a statement that the four executions were “one step in a comprehensive plan in response to the rise in the percentage of crime, assaults, and violations made outside of the law.”
After a June 8 session of the PLC, Interior Minister Yousef said that in Gaza, the PA would exert its utmost efforts to its chaos and lack of security. During the meeting he skewered the executive authority and the PLC, claiming that they had not done anything over the past ten years to buoy the security establishment, largely contributing to the current state of disorder.
In a response to questioning by 61 PLC members regarding the lawlessness in the Palestinian territories, Yousef said he assumed responsibility for the interior ministry with all the problems that had accumulated before his leadership, unsupported by anyone else. “We did not receive anything, either from the security establishment or from the PA ministries, not even a pen,” he said.
Yousef added in defense, “I received the security establishment tangled up in a huge mess of power [struggles], paralysis, and with gangs everywhere.” Yousef said he was surprised that PLC members had previously neglected the security services, especially as many of the members were once ministers and officials in the executive authority. Still, he says, the PLC was never held accountable for its responsibilities and no one ever helped to change anything.
Yousef said that there is no clear-cut framework for the security establishment, explaining that the PA worked to consolidate the numerous security services into three. However, he says, the “powerful players” would hinder or prevent any coordination of each branch’s performance of their mandated duties.
“We seek to build a clean security establishment without power centers and far from any political aspirations,” said Yousef. “But solving problems accumulated over ten years takes time and perseverance.”
During the session, Yousef blamed the Fateh Central Committee for the situation of Palestinian soldiers, who for the past ten years have been receiving a monthly wage of NIS880. “No one has tried to improve their salary or lives,” he insisted, blaming the committee of not living up to their responsibilities to these soldiers.
He added that the Palestinian soldier has been made to fight a battle he was not prepared for, and that no one morally, politically, or financially prepared Palestinian security officers for this situation. “So, we broke him and defeated him before he even entered the battlefield.”
The end result is that Palestinian soldiers or policemen find themselves faced with the huge challenge of halting the security chaos, which will require a lot of strength, effort, and patience in the coming period. Some security members say their prestige on the street has been broken. One policeman who called himself Mohammed, told the Palestine Report, “I work as a traffic officer in Ramallah. Many times I am faced with situations where there are traffic violations or people driving unlicensed cars. But I don’t write them tickets or even stop the violators because I am afraid that the family might take revenge on me if I do anything to them.”
Mohammed says that because for so many years the PA did not fulfill the work to restore peoples’ faith in the government, coupled with the repeated attacks on citizens and security services by Israeli occupation forces, the average citizen has lost respect for the security apparatus. The services cannot provide safety or protection to the people, they say, so the people have to protect themselves. This, therefore, is why lawlessness has prevailed.
“If the PA successfully imposes respect of the law and the security services succeed in unifying their branches and gain control over the Palestinian street, then everything everybody wants will be accomplished,” said PLC member Imad Falouji. Explaining that no one is above the law, Falouji added that the sole body responsible for implementing this principle is the PA with all its security services.
However, Falouji cautioned, the reality on the ground is much different than what should be. “Every party or faction thinks they have this power and they think they are above the law and the application of the law should be in the manner they desire, allowing them to make exceptions as they please. This is where the role of the PA comes in, by controlling this phenomenon before it spreads throughout the entire society and completely destroys it.” -Published
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