SMALL TOWN POLICING IN THE WEST BANK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000701 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE, NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018 TAGS: KWBG IS PGOV PTER SUBJECT: SMALL TOWN POLICING IN THE WEST BANK Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Thomas M. Duffy, for reasons 1. 4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Outside the West Bank's large cities, most towns/villages have minimal law enforcement or court infrastructure, due largely to IDF-imposed restrictions and PA budget shortfalls. Criminal justice and property dispute resolution have devolved to family/clan leaders in the absence of PA police and courts. As described by working-level security contacts, Illar and neighboring towns near Tulkarm are typical in this respect of West Bank municipalities that are outside effective PA control. End summary. IDF Restricts PA Police Operations, Even in Area A; Families Dispense "Justice" -------------- ¶2. (C) Police chief Capt. Qusay Ghashash told PolOff on an April 22 visit that Illar, an Area A town of 7,000 residents northeast of Tulkarm (al-Sharawiya region) has little crime. There are infrequent vehicle thefts, inter-family clashes and narcotics seizures, and Hamas and other terror groups hold little sway, he said. (Note: Mayor Sufian Shadid is Fatah. End Note). There are only 15 police officers, according to Ghashash, and only 5 or 6 are on duty at any time. The police have a new Mitsubishi pickup (courtesy, he said, of President Abbas, delivered via Tulkarm's Governor, Talal Dwaykat, in fall 2007) for patrols and a small station with bare concrete offices, basic furniture, file cabinets and one Motorola radio. There is a single holding cell, but Ghashash said it is rarely used, and then only for a few hours pending transfer to Tulkarm. ¶3. (SBU) Ghashash told PolOff that April 22 was the first time in months that he or any of his officers had worn uniforms, because the IDF forbids uniformed PA police or carrying of rifles in Illar or any of the surrounding villages. The April 22 exception was for the USAID dedication of a soccer field in Illar with PA Youth/Sport Minister Tahani Abu Daqqa and was specially coordinated. Ramallah police contacts verified this restriction for PolOff and said the IDF has functionally redesignated Illar and most other Area A towns/villages outside the major cities as Area B, although they remain Area A on official maps and by GOI-PA agreement. ¶4. (C) Ghashash said Illar police conduct plainclothes �0A;patrols, with some officers carrying 1970s-era pistols but most unarmed, as the IDF has said they will be arrested if found in uniform and possibly shot if carrying rifles during an IDF operation in the area. He said the IDF permits only non-uniformed police to operate in Illar and nearby Area A villages, although the PA's Preventive Security Organization (PSO) has a surreptitious presence in the area. When armed militants, mostly from outside Illar, hold marches in the area (as they did in February after the death of PFLP founder George Habash),Ghashash said the police cannot stop them. Locals neither fear nor respect a tiny police force without uniforms or weapons, he said. ¶5. (SBU) In this environment, Ghashash and other police officers told PolOff that "real justice is dispensed by family heads, who apprehend and punish criminals from their family in their own way." Ghashash said clan leaders take responsibility when their members cause problems, which keeps crime low, but this system is outside PA law, does not have uniform standards, and ultimately weakens the authority of the PA and its police. He said there is seldom an effective alternative, however. He said the difficulty of transferring prisoners through IDF checkpoints to Tulkarm and the heavy case backlog in barely-functioning courts mean the PA criminal court system is only practical for the most serious crimes. Tulkarm Supportive, But Towns Feel Isolated, Lack Resources -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Illar town council members and police officers complained to PolOff that while the Tulkarm Governor and security chiefs want to help outlying villages, the separation caused by checkpoints and IDF restrictions on operations make cooperation difficult. If police seize a car in Illar that is not registered or has been reported stolen, it can take hours of calls to Tulkarm (and from Tulkarm to the IDF) to get clearance to transport the car to a Tulkarm impound lot. During the interim delay, families may use force to "repossess" cars they claim to have informally JERUSALEM 00000701 002 OF 002 purchased, and altercations between families or between families and police are common. Ghashash said police mediate in these cases, lacking the numbers, weapons and community respect necessary to strictly enforce the law. ¶7. (SBU) Illar community leaders also said current restrictions lead to large cities "exporting" their criminal problems, with wanted criminals fleeing from Tulkarm and other cities to Area A/B villages, counting on the inability of PA police to arrest them there and limited IDF interest if they are uninvolved in attacks against Israel. DUFFY