Security officers ready

DIANA ATALLAH THE MEDIA LINE

In a first event of its kind, Independence University celebrated the graduation of 112 officers at the Academy for Security Studies’ campus in the West Bank city of Jericho this month. Amid their parents’ cheers, graduates marched to the stage in green uniforms while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stood to honor them. In the official ceremony, also attended by foreign diplomats, Abbas called upon the graduates to protect the state of law and the security of citizens.

Palestinian graduates face an often-dire economic situation in the West Bank, where finding a job is a difficult mission. In August 2012, Abbas issued a decree banning new hiring and promotions in the public sector as a result of the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal hardship. But the newly graduated officers will not have the same challenge: all 112 of them will join different sectors of the Palestinian security forces, following a decree from Abbas. They will each be under a one-year, paid trial period, according to the law.

“No student’s future is more guaranteed than our university students’,” Kamal Salameh, the school’s deputy president, told this reporter, explaining that their jobs fall under the natural needs of the security forces, whose organization and management unit asked for 350 graduates to be enlisted in 2013.

Economists regularly criticize the Palestinian government for spending a large portion – somewhere between 32 and 40 percent – of its budget on security. During the students’ four years of studying, the university pays all tuition, housing, medical care, food and clothes. A cost that is estimated at $50,000, the full scholarship is usually paid for with donations that come to the university.

Teachers at the academy are either experienced Palestinian security officials or retired intelligence and criminal investigation experts from Poland and Jordan. Men and women are not allowed in the program if they are engaged or married, and they have to make it through 45 days of military camp before they are accepted. Once enrolled, they sleep at the university’s dorms and have a chance to visit their families only on weekends.

Women are encouraged to apply since there’s a need for women security officers. Female students’ families were hesitant at first, but now more women are enrolling, said Tayseer Abdullah, the university’s president.

“The university gave me a chance to improve my life,” a 22-year-old female graduate who didn’t wish to be identified said. “My parents are divorced and this was the only opportunity for me to be educated and change my future.”

Among the first 112 graduates were 30 women – two female graduates were among the top six students in the class – but the next group beginning now has almost equal numbers of male and female students. An estimated four percent of government security personnel in the West Bank are women, most of them in the police force.

“We are not satisfied with this percentage, but we take comfort in knowing that some of the women are high-ranking in the police,” said Adnan Damiri, spokesperson of the security forces, explaining that it took time to convince Palestinian society of the need.

Hiba Saad, a student from the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, said her family was an important support for her during the past four years.

Having a family member in the security institution is one factor driving more women to apply. A mother (who wished to remain anonymous) said that her husband, who works in the forces, encouraged their daughter to pursue the field. “She might be deployed at her father’s station,” said the mother.

Started by Tawfiq Tirawi, the head of Palestinian intelligence at the time, building of the university began in 1998 but was frozen due to the Palestinian uprising of 2000. In 2007, the university was formally registered by the Ministry of Education as a public university.

When the PA was established in the 1993, former detainees and revolutionary leaders from the 1980s were absorbed into the institution. Independence University aims to refresh the security apparatus with new recruits.

Changing technology also has increased the need for a younger, differently educated generation of officers.

As the first such academy in the Palestinian territories, IU’s course-based curriculum combines security studies, field training and academic requirements comparable to other universities. Out of the 112 graduates, 57 received security science degrees and 55 students graduated with specialization in information systems management. Abdullah said the university now offers a number of diplomas, including six different bachelors of arts for security-related specializations.

“With all respect to our past, we’re now building a state of institutions where we have specialized officers,” added Salameh. “Experience is important and we value the sacrifices of the previous generation, but I am sure they will be happy to see us moving forward into having educated officers in the system.”

^TOP