Hundreds of Palestinians have applied to join the new Palestinian police force that is to be established in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.
Registration took place over the weekend at 11 recruitment offices set up by the Palestine Liberation Organization throughout the territories, with most of the applicants reportedly members of Al Fatah, the PLO faction led by Yasser Arafat.
Under the terms of the landmark Israeli-PLO agreement signed Sept. 13 in Washington, the Palestinians were authorized to begin building a police force immediately after the signing. The core of the force was to come from PLO fighters from outside Gaza and Jericho.
According to Palestinian sources, most of the volunteers will be turned down, as the intention is to make the core of the force from the Palestine Liberation Army, whose men have trained for years in various Arab countries.
Registration fees were set at one Jordanian dinar, almost $2, to prove the serious intention of the candidate. Among the questions on the questionnaires candidates filled out was, “Will you obey the rule of law or your conscience?”
The questionnaires will be passed on to a screening committee at the PLO headquarters in Tunis, which will select the 14,000-strong Palestinian police force, to be divided between Gaza and Jericho.
On Sunday, the Ma’ariv newspaper, quoting French sources, reported that the PLO has already begun secret preparations to organize two intelligence bodies, one for local purposes, similar to the FBI or the Israeli Shin Bet domestic security service, and the second, for foreign intelligence activities, to be built on the model of the CIA and the Mossad.
The internal security service will comprise members of the prestigious Force 17 commando units of the Fatah organization. Its commander reportedly will be Abul Tayeb, the former commander of Force 17.
Abul Tayeb was reportedly instructed to set up a force of 1,000 to 1,500, whose main task would be to protect the heads of the Palestinian self-rule authority in Gaza and Jericho.
Radwan Abu-Ayyash, a Palestinian journalist from Ramallah, announced over the weekend that the PLO would build its own radio and television station in eastern Jerusalem at an investment of $50 million.
In an interview with the Jordanian newspaper A-Dustour, Abu-Ayyash said the Palestinians were expecting European economic aid to finance the project.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Jordan are scheduled soon to complete a police-training program, while 24 Gazans are expected to begin training soon at the police school in Cairo.
Leading the group from Gaza is Ibrahim Mohana, a former officer in the Israeli-controlled Gaza police force until the intifada broke out in 1987.
Mohana reportedly was named recently by Arafat to be the commander in chief of the new Palestinian police force in Gaza.
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