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40 percent of Palestinian
civil servants are police
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
GAZA CITY — Palestinian security forces have ballooned amid the
militia war in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources and Western diplomats said PA police and security
forces increased by about 40 percent over the last 18 months. They said the
expansion of the forces was financed by Western donors to facilitate the
Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in September
2005.
"The police do nothing in terms of security," a Palestinian source said.
"They are, however, active in the militia war and in organized crime."
James Wolfensohn, who recently resigned as the envoy of the Quartet,
reported 70,000 PA security officers by March 2006. He told the
International Crisis Group that security personnel accounted for more than
40 percent of PA personnel.
The sources said PA employees increased from 125,000 to 165,000 since
2004. Most of them have not received their salaries since March 2006.
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