Huge budgets for Palestinian security .. What are the reasons?

Al-Jazeera Net - Ramallah

The security sector accounts for the greater part of the Palestinian Authority’s budget compared to other services and development sectors that have less than the general budget, which prompted observers to question the importance and relevance of this spending and the extent of transparency in setting priorities.

Spending on the security sector constituted about 21% of the budget of the Palestinian Authority during 2018, as the current budget for this sector amounted to NIS 3.475 billion (about a billion dollars), according to a recent publication by the Civil Forum to Promote Good Governance in the Security Sector.

Contrary to the text of the Palestinian constitution, which provides for the submission of the general budget two months before the start of the next fiscal year, the current Palestinian government has not presented its budget for the next year (2020) until today.

66 thousand soldiers
In its second annual conference, titled "The Reality of Integrity in the Palestinian Security Sector," the Civil Forum emphasized that the preponderance of spending on the security sector weakens spending on other service and development sectors, such as education, health, and social welfare.

The legal advisor at Al-Haq Foundation Issam Abdeen points to a chronic structural defect - old and new - in the budget of the Authority, noting that it has always been confirmed by the reports of the General Budget Committee in the Legislative Council since 1997.

Although the official authorities confirmed the existence of a new system of promotions approved since the beginning of 2019, and the activation of promotion criteria, to reduce pressure on the higher ranks, Abdin stressed that the most important reasons for the budget imbalance are the persistence of random appointments that he saw are not based on any professional foundations or standards, nor the law The basic, not the budget cycle that requires preparation, discussion, approval, and implementation.

The Civil Forum report (a forum that brings together civil institutions working in the area of ​​monitoring the performance of security agencies and their compliance with the law) stated that 83.5% of the current budget for the security sector goes to salaries and wages, noting the low volume of the security budget allocated for 2018 compared to previous years due to early retirement.

Salary difference
According to the results of the Integrity Reality Index in the Palestinian security sector published last November, the total monthly salaries allocated to workers in the security forces reached 242 million shekels per month (about 69 million dollars), 63% of which are salaries for officers from lieutenant to brigade.

The Forum's report showed that the number of military workers in the Palestinian security forces is about 66,000, including two hundred brigades, 410 deans and 2,592 colonels.

The results recorded a large difference in salary between the ranks. For example, the monthly salary of one brigade equals the monthly salary of six soldiers, and the monthly salary of the dean equals the salaries of five soldiers.

Abdin said that citizens finance more than 80% of their public spending in their pockets, and they have the right to present a budget to them and their civil institutions instead of lack of transparency.

He warned of "unprecedented exclusivity and transgression of authority to the principle of the rule of law and the separation of powers, the absence of constitutional principles and values, and accountability."

He stressed the importance of a fair distribution of the budget in a way that enhances the steadfastness of a people under occupation as a priority, and takes into account the sectors of health, education, industries and development.

The rest of the sectors
The budget of the Ministry of Health for 2018 was about 1.78 billion shekels (less than six hundred million dollars), or 10.8% of the total budget.

While the budget of the Ministry of Education reached about 4.9 billion shekels (1.4 billion dollars), or about 22% of the budget, the budget of the Ministry of Social Development did not exceed a barrier of eight hundred million shekels (about 230 million dollars).

He explained that what is required is not only to strengthen these sectors with employees, but to strive to ensure quality education and health services at the highest levels of health, stressing that salvation can only be through legislative elections that enable citizens to choose representatives for them, and respect their results and continuity.

Why inflation?
For his part, Professor of Political Science at Hebron University, Dr. Bilal Al-Shobaki, believes that the budget influx is directly related to the internal Palestinian political structure. "It is an undemocratic structure and needs a security arm that guarantees the stability of the system."

Al-Shobaki adds that, like the countries of the third world, the authority gives all its attention to the security track, and if there are other tracks, it is linked to the security track.

He added that the most dangerous issue in the Palestinian issue is the failure in other sectors, which weakens the ability of Palestinian society to withstand the occupation.

He stressed that the Palestinian people are awaiting budgets focusing on the health sectors, then education, agriculture, and light industries as necessary sectors in strengthening and strengthening the Palestinian steadfastness, and contribute to the economic disengagement from the occupation that the government is talking about.

Al-Shobaki indicated that the security services - despite their huge budgets - are not charged with the job of the army and providing external protection or directing weapons against the occupation.

Al-Shobaki criticized the amplification of some criminal incidents as a justification for maintaining huge budgets for these devices, saying that any such expenses are "wasting public money and spending it on something other than the duty".

On the fear of the repetition of the events in Gaza in 2007, the political science professor said that any security figure can market this justification, and this is acceptable if the budgets are reasonable and without gross violations of human rights.