Palestinians Join "West Bank Brigade" [Force On Paper Only]

2005-02-10

Orly Halpern

The Jerusalem Post

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AMMAN - The Jordan headquarters of the Palestinian Liberation Army has not seen so much action in years. Every few minutes another car stops in front of the unassuming two-story building in an Amman residential neighborhood and young men dressed in jeans and wearing knit caps get out.

Streams of others who took the bus come down the street by foot.

They all heard or read the same thing. Their army has called for recruits and they are rushing to enlist.

They have one goal. They want to be among the thousands of PLA soldiers that might be deployed in the Palestinian Authority areas as a security force. The recent announcement by the Jordanian government that the Badr Brigade could be deployed has aroused the hopes of thousands of Palestinians to return to the land of their parents.

"I want to go back to my country," said Muhammad Abdulkarim, 21, as he walked toward the entrance with his brother and a friend. He traveled from the city of Zarqa, where he was born. His parents are from the village of Tubas, near Nablus.

Until just days ago, the Badr Brigade - the Jordanian branch of the PLA - was a symbolic brigade of the symbolic Palestinian army, which has other branches around the Arab world. Now it may become a large active force once again.

In 1964, the PLA was an army with which to be reckoned. Established to "liberate Palestine," the brigades were highly trained by each of the Arab countries in which they were hosted. The soldiers are all either Palestinian refugees or their descendants.

But since the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the Jordan-Israel peace treaty the following year, the Badr Brigade cannot any longer plan to "liberate Palestine."

As one Jordanian analyst put it, "Their main task has been to march in front of the king on Muslim holidays and collect their salaries at the end of the month."

Last month, King Abdullah II reportedly suggested sending part of the brigade to the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Last week, Foreign Minister Hani Mulki said the forces are being offered to help provide a security net when the IDF withdraws from Gaza. Mulki also said Amman would not send Jordanian soldiers or policemen to PA areas, adding that "the brigade soldiers are Palestinians and have no connection to Jordan" other than having trained there.

But the soldiers at brigade headquarters have another story to tell. "If you don't have a Jordanian passport or a Jordanian ID, you can't enlist," said one officer. Moreover, young men of Palestinian origin are not allowed to hold a Palestinian ID.

One Jordanian analyst said the Jordanian government actually wants to dissolve the brigade, which is why it is only too happy to send the forces to Palestine. Officers at Badr headquarters denied this.

Abdulkarim is hopeful he'll get accepted. He doesn't want to live in the PA areas, but he hoped he could travel back and forth between them and his family in Jordan, he said. And he isn't worried about working alongside Israeli soldiers.

He smiled at the thought and said, "If there is peace and stability, it will be great."

His brother, Murad, looked at him and said, "I'll kill them."

The soldiers at the headquarters have no idea if they will be deployed. "We are ready, we are just waiting for orders," said one soldier in his 30s. "We will get a list with names. I hope mine will be on it."

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly agreed to the deployment, but Israel has the final say.

For the Badr Brigade soldiers, being sent to the PA areas would be the culmination of a lifetime dream.

"We're living here on hope," said one. "For 15 years I've been serving in this army, waiting for this day." None of the soldiers agreed to give his name, but all spoke longingly of the deployment.

The soldier in his 30s said his family is from Sdud, where Ashdod now sits. "If I get deployed, I will ask for permission from the Jews so I can go visit my town."

This week, Dustoor, a national newspaper, printed an ad calling for young Palestinians to enlist. About 100-150 young men are signing up every day. Jordanian-born Ashraf Muhammad saw the ad and came with his friend Muhammad Kamal. Muhammad, 25, works as a marketing researcher at the Jordanian Tobacco and Cigarette Company.

"I will make much less money if I get this job," he said. But he doesn't care; he just wants to go to his home in Bethlehem, from which his family comes.

Kamal, on the other hand, is enlisting to get a job. "I'm unemployed," he said.

The Badr Brigade is comprised of about 1,000 soldiers. The majority of them are 30 to 50 years old and joined the PLA before the Oslo Accords.

"We are a small number in Jordan and we need more to send to Palestine," said one officer at the headquarters as more young men made their way inside. "Whoever comes, we'll sign them up."

For these soldiers, the deployment has much more meaning. They all want to see the land they had been serving from far away.

"None of us have ever been there," said one 35-year-old sergeant whose parents are from Nablus. "We were born here, so how would we? We just want to see it."

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis