ADMITTING THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TO INTERPOL COULD COMPROMISE COUNTER-TERRORISM

The Government of Turkey is leading a campaign to bring its request, that the Palestinian Authority be admitted as a member of INTERPOL, the international criminal police organization, to a vote in the near future. A two-thirds vote of members is required for admission, and Israel is opposing entry by the PA; It has good reason to be concerned.

Looking objectively at the issue:

(1) the Palestinian Authority is not a sovereign nation, and therefore, it is not subject to any meaningful international sanctions, should it choose to transfer, sell, or otherwise distribute classified information that is would be able to collect from INTERPOL. It is not a democracy, and its law enforcement agencies are not subject to internal checks and balances, and therefore cannot assure that theft of critical intelligence will not regularly occur. How can its violations be policed ?

 Given that the PA has one of the regions's worst governments, with rampant corruption, the risk level is too high to permit a non-state actor, with a poor track record, from access to sensitive and classified information, which would probably end up in the hands of those who are targeted by the organization. Classified INTERPOL counter-terrorisn information does not belong in the hands of the terrorists.

(2) The history of connections, between the world's designated terrorist organizations, and Palestinians, both in and out of the PA, renders the Palestinian Authority a clear and present danger to share INTERPOL data with these terrorist groups, especially Hamas, whose allies in the West Bank are powerful, and include many in local government. Remember Ilich (Carlos "the Jackal") Ramírez Sanchez, and his pro-Palestinian terror campaign ?

(3) The United States and countries of the European Union, who have given law enforcement sensitive data to the agency, to assist in capture of fugitives, and those who pose a major threat, could be in heightened danger, if the full extent of law enforcement intelligence on specific criminal organizations, including what is not known, fell into the wrong hands.

I have absolutely no confidence in any police organization that operates for the Palestinian Authority, given that a large number of armed PA police have been involved in terrorist acts, including attacks upon the unarmed civilian population of Israel. Add in the massive corruption, and you have a recipe for disaster. We do not need terrorists knowing what we know about them; it will only allow them to evade arrest.