Abstract
Considerable efforts by leading experts and funds from around the world are put into restructuring the West Bank justice and security sector (JSS). This is an effort done in a highly contested environment, with an ongoing Israeli occupation and weak local trust in the Palestine Authority (PA). This article analyzes the understandings by local Palestinian non-government organizations and international bodies aiding in building the JSS of what a legitimate development of the JSS is and should be, and whose voices become dominant in the discussions and implementations of it. The argument made is that Western legal knowledge, with its focus on security and technocratic solutions, have been dominant at the expense of core political solutions in regard to the Israeli occupation and the workings of the PA, and that it has downplayed the local context, local voices and their understandings of a legitimate JSS.
Highlights
A justice and security sector (JSS)1 is being reconstructed in the West Bank with the assistance of leading international experts and funds
What is understood as a legitimate development of the JSS, and whose voices become dominant in the discussions and its implementation? The argument made is that the doxa of Western legal knowledge, with its focus on security, technical advice and financial assistance, has been dominant at the expense of core political solutions in regard to the Israeli occupation and the workings of the Palestine Authority (PA), and that this has downplayed local voices, justice practices and understandings of a legitimate JSS
This study is based on two interviews with representatives of United States (US) and European Union (EU) bodies situated in the West Bank with mandates to assist in building the Palestinian JSS—the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) and the EU Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS)—and interviews with six local Palestinian non‐government organizations (NGOs), all of which were conducted between February and May 2014.2 These NGOs work within JSS‐affiliated areas of interest: women’s rights, the rights of children, prisoner rights, human rights, victims of torture and restorative justice and conflict mediation
Summary
A justice and security sector (JSS) is being reconstructed in the West Bank with the assistance of leading international experts and funds. A recurring topic in research on peace‐ and state‐building is the relationship between building states and building peace, and the possibilities for building state structures such as a JSS in war‐ torn societies experiencing ongoing conflict—what should come first: peace or a state (Call 2008). This is a dilemma in the West Bank, leading to mistrust and disagreement on priorities between the international and local levels. Before discussing the various views on the development of the JSS, it is necessary to introduce the methodology and the immensely complex legal landscape of the West Bank, and the efforts which have been taken to develop the JSS and to situate it within postcolonial legal theory
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