Thousands Apply for PLO Police Jobs
Young Palestinian men, including many who have been in Israeli jails, flooded PLO offices throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday, hoping to become police officers under Palestinian authority.
“I always wanted to be a policeman. I did not want to serve under the Israeli police, but it is my dream to be a Palestinian policeman,” said Yousef Omar, 23, one of several dozen young men who packed the PLO Fatah offices in Ramallah.
Under an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on self-rule in the occupied territories, the Palestine Liberation Organization has begun recruiting people aged 18-35 for its police force.
Thousands of Palestinians, mostly Fatah activists who had been jailed for resisting Israeli occupation, packed 28 offices set up by the PLO throughout the occupied territories.
Senior Palestinian leader Faisal Husseini has said the PLO wants a force of up to 30,000 men and women.
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