The Palestinian Authority’s role in the occupied territories

On the 18th January at 3:20 pm fifteen year old Saleh Elamareen was shot in the head and killed by a suspected dumdum bullet shot by Israeli soldiers. Elamareen had been standing with his friends outside Lajee refugee centre in the Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem watching Israeli soldiers by the wall. Although Elamareen was practically dead when he arrived at the hospital, it took five days for his death to be announced by the Israeli hospital treating him, and his funeral had to take place under the cover of darkness with little notice given to the community. His death not only illuminates life under occupation, but also the role of the PA in today’s Palestine.

In the days preceding Elamareen’s killing Aida youth had been protesting after a hole in the separation wall was made, but video footage and witness testimonies confirm that there was not a protest happening at the time of the shooting. Saleh Elamareen was taken directly to Beit Jala Government hospital immediately after being hit. He had suffered large intracranial bleeding and the CT scan obtained shows the shattered bullet still in his skull. Saleh was then transferred to an Israeli hospital after intervention from PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Two doctors who treated Saleh claimed the bullet that hit him was likely a dumdum bullet, which expands after impact and is illegal under international law. A third doctor claimed it was definitely a dumdum bullet.

During the days that followed the shooting the camp filled with PA officers, but during the clashes that led to Saleh’s death they were noticeably absent. “At times when you walk down the street and you can’t see the PA you know Israeli soldiers are coming or are already there. They have called the PA and told them to leave,” said one resident of the camp. The PA’s presence is a constant in the Aida camp from before the time of Saleh’s shooting, except of course when Israeli soldiers are in the camp. Over the next few days fourteen of Saleh Elamareen’s friends were arrested by the PA. Some from Azza, and others from the nearby refugee camps of Dheisheh.

Saleh Elamareen’s shooting and subsequent death barely made waves in the local or international media, despite damning evidence that he was shot with internationally outlawed ammunition. A few days later, Lubna Hanash from Bethlehem – a mere five minutes from where Saleh was shot, was shot dead as she stood by the entrance of Al-Arroub refugee camp in Hebron. Unlike Saleh’s silent story, her shooting was widely covered by both international and national news outlets. Saleh’s death was mentioned in reference to Lubna’s death; and the use of a ‘dumdum’ bullet was not mentioned.

Aida refugee camp functions as the hub for resistance activities in Bethlehem and the surrounding refugee camps. The delay of information, the suspected withholding of information, and the suppression of the probability that his death was caused by an internationally outlawed dumdum bullet, indicates a desire to crush dissent and quell the possibility of protest. The timing of Saleh’s death near the festive season, a season which sees the biggest surge of tourists to Bethlehem, the recognition of Aida’s sensitive location both next to the separation wall and by “Rachels Tomb,” and its history of protest led to the above situation. For this we need not only to look at the IDF but to look towards the role of the PA in today’s Palestine.

“There are two periods when we talk of the media, before and after Oslo. Before there were individual efforts centered on clear but differing political agendas tied to political parties, but after Oslo everything changed. The PA became the centre of the power, Ma’an is a major media centre here in Palestine, yet Ma’an still didn’t speak about the death of Saleh much because they are connected to the PA, maybe not directly but the PA has put a lot of pressure on newspapers, on the media, on what you can say and what you can’t say. I believe with Saleh they sent orders to the news agencies telling them what they were allowed to write,“ said a political activist from the camp.

Aida refugee camp experienced the harshness of the first and second intifadas. In 2002, during the second intifada the camp was placed under a 40 day curfew with only hour long respites. At the time Aida camp was predominantly pro-Hamas, but after the PA attempted to bring people to Fatah. As a result of their efforts the new generation of the camp support Fatah, an estimated 80% said one resident. With the older generation it is a more complex picture, many were imprisoned for being Hamas and so now free they claim they are behind Fatah.

With Aida’s history in the first and second intifada, its location next to the contentious “Rachel’s Tomb” and the looming threats of the outbreak of the third intifada it is in Israel’s interest to monitor movements in Aida. It is also in the PA’s. Still today there is a heavy PA presence in the camp assisting Israel in this job. At the end of February Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Spokesperson Mark Regev called on the PA to act “responsibly” in light of further protests across the West Bank. “Israel expects the Palestinian Authority to act responsibly to prevent provocations and violence which exacerbate tensions,” he said. The special relationship between the PA and Israel is no secret. Shawan Jabarin, General Director of the human rights group Al- Haq, commented: “I know well the security co-operation between the PA and Israel hasn’t stopped at any time, the political talks and negotiations have stopped but the security co-ordination has always continued.”

But in who’s best interest is the security co-operation? Whilst 31% of the total PA expenditures in 2011 and one third of its budget was spent on security the beneficiary of such large national expenditure is Israel. Israel’s Yossi Kuperwasser, director general at the Ministry of Strategic Affairs said during a court case waged against the PA, “I think that the Palestinians shared partial, tendentious and incomplete information with the Shin Bet during these and other meetings and one of the reasons Shin Bet officials are presenting things in this fashion is their desire to cover up their inability to use this tool called the Palestinian security forces in supplying them with the purpose for which they exist: preventing terror.” Not only is it recognized here that the PA is openly sharing files with Israel’s notorious intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, there is no attempt to hide the fact that the entity of the PA has been created solely for this purpose, as a “tool.”

This is something not only understood by Israel. On the 31st January 2009, the British paper broke the story that Dfid had allocated 76 million British pounds in 2009 to the PA for what it defined as “security sector reform.” The paper claimed only 3 million GDP went to the PA police whilst “ 17 million [pounds] pays the salaries of the PA’s array of security organizations — including the Presidential Guard intelligence service and the feared Preventive Security Organization,”  Electronic Intifada reported. This is mirrored in other foreign aid programs, notably the U.S. Dayton Mission which birthed the PA of today. “Israel, the US, Arab, Europe, they all need the PA to continue. It is not in their interest to destroy the PA or for it to collapse. Israel and the US use that pressure to the PA in the ceiling of what they want to do. Politically speaking, it is a servant for Israel and still takes all the responsibility,” said Shawan Jabarin

The Oslo accords that established the Palestinian Authority (PA) ensured its role as a puppet for the Israeli government. Since its inception the PA was specifically designed to fit the security interests of Israel. When one third of the population is dependent on a wage from the PA it becomes clear that to keep the general public in favor of the PLO, the PLO must keep Israel in its favor.

 “For us the PA has lost their right to resist, they have a right to fight against the occupation but they only negotiate. They don’t have power within Palestinian society,” said one resident of Aida refugee camp.

In February two more boys were shot in Aida camp, 12 year old Mohammad Khalid Al-Kirdi suffered bullet wounds in his chest and leg, whilst 16 year old Odai Sarhan was shot in the head. For Odai little is known of his condition.