The Palestinian National Security Forces, also referred to as the presidential guard (Arabic: اجهزة امن السلطة الفلسطينية) are the paramilitary forces of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, these forces operate in select areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian National Security Forces engages in various activities which includes among others, maintaining the security and protection of the Palestinian President and Palestinian Leadership.
The Director General of the Palestinian National Security Forces is Major General Nasser Yousef. The total strength of these forces is estimated at 76,500, broken down as follows:
- Public Security Force - 15,000
- Palestinian Civil Police Force - 11,000
- Preventive Security Force - 4,000
- General Intelligence - 5,000
- Military Intelligence, Navy Police, Force 17 - 30,000
- Presidential Security Force - 5,000
- Operations Force - 5,000
- Other forces - 1,500
There are also small forces belonging to Coastal Police, Civil Defence, Air Force, Customs and Excise Police Force and the University Security Service.
The Palestinian Security Force is financed by the United States which, according to media estimates, pays an annual 3 million dollars for it.
Read more about Palestinian National Security Forces: History, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words palestinian, national, security and/or forces:
“I have told my husband that if he denies women equality, I will be in the vanguard of women on the streets, protesting outside his office in the new Palestinian state.”
—Suha Tawil (b. 1963)
“It is not unkind to say, from the standpoint of scenery alone, that if many, and indeed most, of our American national parks were to be set down on the continent of Europe thousands of Americans would journey all the way across the ocean in order to see their beauties.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“...I lost myself in my work and never felt that marriage would give me the security I wanted. I thought that through the trade union movement we working women could get better conditions and security of mind.”
—Mary Anderson (1872–1964)
“The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the fission bomb forces upon us the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb. We do not choose our problems, we do not choose our products; we are pushed, we are forced—by what? By a system which has no purpose and goal transcending it, and which makes man its appendix.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–1980)