The improbable U.S. plan to revitalize a Palestinian security force
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 March 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
Today, the history of the Palestinian Authority, and whether its security forces are up to the challenge of helping to stabilize a post-war Gaza.
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The Palestinian Authority security forces, which report to President Mahmoud Abbas, are at a pivotal moment. The group, estimated to be 35,500 members strong, is regarded by the Biden administration as central to its goal to stabilize a post-war Gaza.
However, despite two decades of reforms, the Palestinian Authority remains chronically underfunded and widely unpopular; many think its security force is ill-equipped to take on the massive responsibility that its Western backers are envisioning.
Today, Post reporter Miriam Berger takes us inside the Palestinian Authority training center, and gives us a rare glimpse of the specific challenges this security force faces as the United States rests its hopes on the group.
Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy, with help from Ariel Plotnick. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week Muslims around the world begin observing Ramadan, a holy month of prayer, fasting, and spiritual rejuvenation. |
| 0:11.0 | It also arrives as the Israel-Hamass War has entered its sixth month |
| 0:16.7 | with little signs of an end in sight. There were hopes that there was going to be a ceasefire by now, and that has not been the case. |
| 0:30.0 | Miriam Berger has been covering the war for the post. |
| 0:33.4 | She's based in Jerusalem. |
| 0:35.0 | Despite rounds and rounds of negotiations, |
| 0:38.0 | Hamas and Israel and the various mediators have not yet come to any agreement. |
| 0:45.0 | And in the meantime, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has just continued to deteriorate even further, |
| 0:51.0 | just a lot of rising cases of starvation of mass civil disorder right now |
| 0:56.2 | when it comes to people just being really desperate trying to access anything that they can, |
| 1:01.0 | food-wise or health care wise. |
| 1:03.0 | The US's response has been to begin to do air drops of food over Gaza, |
| 1:10.0 | which is just a very, very small amount and, you know, sort of a drop in the bucket of what's needed. |
| 1:15.0 | And the latest is a plan to basically build |
| 1:17.4 | a sort of temporary port to be able to ship in food, |
| 1:20.8 | though that will also take a while. And, and at its height would be able to serve about |
| 1:26.1 | two million meals a day, but there are already conversations |
| 1:40.9 | in the U.S. government about the quote day after and that plan is centered |
| 1:46.4 | on Palestinian Authority security forces currently operating in parts of the |
| 1:51.3 | West Bank. It's a proposal with plenty of pushback, |
| 1:55.0 | including among Palestinians. |
| 1:57.0 | So Miriam and her colleagues went to the West Bank |
... |
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