in Palestine

    Initially I feel the need to apologise to my fellow readers. It has been long since my last post and for sure some of you have lost track of my ‘adventures’ in the occupied Palestinian Territories. This simply happened because these ‘adventures’ have come to an end.

    Leaving a mission is not an easy thing; especially after four years. Many of you know this better than I do. Leaving USSC and the Palestinian Ministry of Interior was not an exception.

With Their Excellencies clockwise: President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Theofilos the 3rd, Minister of Interior Dr. Said AbuAli and the USSC VADM Paul Bushong.

    Political impediments, lack of funds and shifts to Greek diplomacy led to an end of the cooperation between Palestinians, USSC and the Greek Government and consequently my secondment as a Technical Advisor.

End of mission brings good and bad things. The way I see things, a new chapter begins; new career perspectives, new posts, new challenges. But all at the same time leave a bitter taste at the end. Goodbyes and farewells with great colleagues and friends, incomplete work and an ‘empty chair’ – where in my case, unfortunately didn’t have a successor.

    I feel sad for many reasons. I left a great Team and a great working environment; a prestigious mission with sound impacts. Also, I left programmes and projects unfinished; deprived from the pleasure to see ‘seeds blossom and flourish giving goods’. But the remedy to my sadness is what I have witnessed. Throughout my four year secondment I was privileged to see the progress and the change in the Palestinian Security Forces. A strong and organisationally matured Ministry and professional and effective Security Services within the framework of democratic governance, rule of law and human rights. Although, always there will be space for improvements. The reference to the numerous changes I have seen is beyond the scope of this post. And this is exactly what consolates my sadness.

    Leaving with all the honours received stigmatised me and sealed a confirmed and recognised commitment and contribution from my side. The photos of this posts may evidence this to you. For me things are not as they seem to be.

All this, aside from sad, is unfair. Below is a part of my leaving speech:

“I came here to serve and support you. I came here to give. But also I took from you and I’m afraid that I took more than what I gave. I’m not leaving Palestine empty-handed. I came as a Police Officer and now leaving as Police Officer. The difference is; that I’m leaving a better person”.

    Through this post and by repeating my last words I want to thank all of you for working with me and supporting me in this mission. I want to thank all the friends and everyone for everything. For this experience, for the unique moments. And to wish you all the best and to continue with the same and even greater intense and commitment. Especially in these days where our values and professionalism is challenged from instability and security risks in all West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Soon I believe that I can be proud to say that I did my part in the ‘State of Palestine’.

Home is where your heart beats; I left a part of my heart back in Ramallah; in Palestine. 

International Experience in Middle East

If for some people working as a policeman is a really interesting experience, working as a policeman in an international mission makes it outstanding!

Since 2010 I am working with the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) in the occupied Palestinian Territories, as a Security Technical Adviser for the Palestinian national Authority in the Ministry of Interior. Main objective of the mission is to assist the Palestinian Authority to reform and professionalize the security sector and build trust and confidence between Palestinian and Israelis for peace through a set of conditions for a negotiated two-state solution.

After the training I received for an international deployment, which proved to be completely necessary, from day 1 I was well adjusted and started working alongside with Palestinian and other international police and military officers. Within 3 years I have learned to work with many different nationalities (Palestinian, Israelis, Jordanians, Americans, Canadians, and almost all the European). Good communication skills and common ‘work’ language in terms of security, training and legislation framework proved to be necessary.

Sharing experiences with other colleagues is also another very interesting part of my work here. I was introduced to different kind of security and training strategies and techniques, new equipment and latest technological developments where in Greece I was not able to be aware of.

In addition, working in an environment like this, I’ve been acquainted to work with respect to the target group. Our work shouldn’t be westernised and imposed. It should be offered as an advice, or in form of alternative solutions and with respect to the local norms, the culture and the desires of our Palestinian counterparts.

I’ve also noticed that things that ‘in our word’ take as granted, doesn’t happen here. It took me long time to learn more about the region and develop specific skills especially in the field of adult learning, consultancy and advocacy and building personal and institutional capacity. The latest required a carefully planned and methodological approach, usually directed from the political level.

Patience has a different dimension here. I’ve learnt that for good. I know that you cannot change things in one or two years and especially when it comes to complex situations, things might take much longer to change towards the better. Historic Palestine is occupied since 1948 and obviously, bringing a viable solution cannot just happen in a few years time. But what can dramatically change in maybe some days is the welfare of the people. Surveys showed that training and educational programs provided to Security Staff made a change and an immediate sound impact at the ground level.

During my work here I had also the change to go and visit, mostly for work reasons, neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan and that gave me a broaden knowledge about the Middle East region.

Through this experience I realized that I became more and more thirsty in learning about conflicts, stabilisation and reconstruction processes and the role of the international community. That is the reason that recently I started studying a MSc in Security, Conflict and International Development. Hopefully in the future with enhanced academic background, my already experience and Arabic language skills, which I’m learning for 2 years now, I will have more possibilities to be employed in another international organization in the region.