 GAZA CITY: The head of the Palestinian police said Sunday that his forces needed more weapons and better equipment if they were to successfully combat a tide of lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Speaking at a conference in Gaza City, Aala Hosni said that only one in 20 of his men had weapons and were struggling to maintain order with ramshackle equipment. "We only have limited weapons, light weapons, a lot of which come from the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) forces" which pre-date the creation of the Palestinian Authority more than a decade ago. "Only one in 20 policemen even have weapons," he added.
| Which is one of the reasons why fewer Israelis are dying, but he didn't get into that. |
The PA has been consistently pushing Israel to allow it to have more weaponry in order to tackle a security crisis in the territories where gunmen from factions largely operate above the law.
| And we all know how well Paleo coppers handle weapons. Nope, not a chance in the world new weapons would fall into the hands of Hamas. |
Hosni said that the police suffered deficiencies with other vital equipment such as communication systems which he said had been devastated by the Israeli military during the course of the five-year Palestinian uprising, or intifada.
| Gosh, maybe you shouldn't have had an intifada. |
Extra vehicles, better offices and at least four new prisons would also be essential if the security forces were to succeed in turning around the security situation, he added.
Speaking at the same conference, Interior Minister Nasr Youssef said he was working to ensure that only members of the security services possess weapons.
| Then his lips fell off and his nose grew. |
While the number of militants openly carrying weapons has dropped in recent months as part of an agreement reached with the armed factions, the security forces have been reluctant to institute a formal crackdown on gunmen.
"The Interior Ministry will collect the weapons according to a timetable and through dialogue or by offering compensation," he said. He said weapons held without license would be confiscated and the security forces would "increase our monitoring work to limit the internal and external sources of these weapons." The PA is also looking to bring members of some armed factions, such as the traditionally-loyal Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades into the security services.
| Always a good idea to bring hot-headed nuts and killers into the police. Works every time. |
While he said the security services would "be open to everyone," it is highly unlikely that Hamas members would join up.
| Since Hamas has their own ideas on 'security.' |
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