The Palestinian Civil Police Force ( PCP ; Arabic : الشرطة المدنية الفلسطينية , al-Shurtah al-Madaniyah al-Filistiniyah ) is the Civil Police organization tasked with traditional law enforcement duties in the autonomous territory governed by the Palestinian National Authority . The Civil Police is a part of the Palestinian Security Services . Since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip the control of the Civil Police in Gaza was placed under the jurisdiction of Hamas .
53-710: The Civil Police was formally established with the May 1994 signing of the Gaza–Jericho Agreement , a chapter in the Oslo Accords process, under the umbrella of the General Security Service . Founded with over 10,000 officers, it was the largest substituent of the Palestinian National Security Forces. The agreement called for the civil police maintaining public order from 25 stations throughout
106-431: A shrine . It contained a niche in the wall. A chipped pillar of volcanic stone that was found nearby might have fitted into this niche. The dead were buried under the floors or in the rubble fill of abandoned buildings. There are several collective burials. Not all the skeletons are completely articulated, which may point to a time of exposure before burial. A skull cache contained seven skulls. The jaws were removed and
159-461: A central courtyard. There is one big room (6.5 m × 4 m (21.3 ft × 13.1 ft) and 7 m × 3 m (23.0 ft × 9.8 ft)) with internal divisions; the rest are small, presumably used for storage. The rooms have red or pinkish terrazzo -floors made of lime. Some impressions of mats made of reeds or rushes have been preserved. The courtyards have clay floors. Kathleen Kenyon interpreted one building as
212-429: A few ground-stone axes made of greenstone. Other items discovered included dishes and bowls carved from soft limestone, spindle whorls made of stone and possible loom weights, spatulae and drills, stylised anthropomorphic plaster figures, almost life-size, anthropomorphic and theriomorphic clay figurines, as well as shell and malachite beads. In the late 4th millennium BCE, Jericho was occupied during Neolithic 2 and
265-538: A hundred men more than a hundred days to construct, thus suggesting some kind of social organization. The town contained round mud-brick houses, yet no street planning. The identity and number of the inhabitants of Jericho during the PPNA period is still under debate, with estimates going as high as 2,000–3,000, and as low as 200–300. It is known that this population had domesticated emmer wheat , barley and pulses and hunted wild animals. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)
318-614: A move which did little to restore public confidence in Police. According to the International Crisis Group , Palestinian police and security forces succeeded in effectively "preventing, prosecuting and reducing crime" in the late 1990s. During the course of the Second Intifada and its armed conflict, Palestinian police were unable to patrol armed or in uniform, lest they be engaged by Israeli security forces as combatants. As
371-569: A role in putting down the Bar Kochba revolt in 133. Accounts of Jericho by a Christian pilgrim are given in 333. Shortly thereafter the built-up area of the town was abandoned and a Byzantine Jericho, Ericha , was built 1600 metres (1 mi) to the east, on which the modern town is centered. Christianity took hold in the city during the Byzantine era and the area was heavily populated. A number of monasteries and churches were built, including
424-590: A swimming pool at the Hasmonean royal winter palaces , as described by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus , took place during a banquet organized by Herod's Hasmonean mother-in-law. After the construction of the palaces, the city had functioned not only as an agricultural center and as a crossroad, but also as a winter resort for Jerusalem 's aristocracy. Herod was succeeded in Judea by his son, Herod Archelaus , who built
477-555: A village in his name not far to the north, Archelaïs (modern Khirbet al-Beiyudat), to house workers for his date plantation. First-century Jericho is described in Strabo 's Geography as follows: Jericho is a plain surrounded by a kind of mountainous country, which in a way, slopes toward it like a theatre. Here is the Phoenicon , which is mixed also with all kinds of cultivated and fruitful trees, though it consists mostly of palm trees. It
530-503: Is 100 stadia in length and is everywhere watered with streams. Here also are the Palace and the Balsam Park. The Christian Gospels state that Jesus of Nazareth passed through Jericho where he healed blind beggars ( Matthew 20:29 ), and inspired a local chief tax collector named Zacchaeus to repent of his dishonest practices ( Luke 19:1–10 ). The road between Jerusalem and Jericho is
583-496: Is a 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) settlement surrounded by a massive stone wall over 3.6 metres (12 ft) high and 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) wide at the base, inside of which stood a stone tower, over 8.5 metres (28 ft) high, containing an internal staircase with 22 stone steps and placed in the centre of the west side of the tell. This tower and the even older ones excavated at Tell Qaramel in Syria are
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#1732851467484636-970: Is generally thought to derive from the Canaanite word rēḥ ' fragrant ' , but other theories hold that it originates in the Canaanite word Yaraḥ ' moon ' or the name of the lunar deity Yarikh , for whom the city was an early centre of worship. Jericho's Arabic name, Arīḥā , means ' fragrant ' and also has its roots in Canaanite Reaẖ . The first excavations of the site were made by Charles Warren in 1868. Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger excavated Tell es-Sultan and Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq between 1907 and 1909, and in 1911, and John Garstang excavated between 1930 and 1936. Extensive investigations using more modern techniques were made by Kathleen Kenyon between 1952 and 1958. Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolò Marchetti conducted excavations in 1997–2000. Since 2009
689-603: The Israelites in the Promised Land . Archaeological excavations have failed to find traces of a fortified city at the site during the relevant time, the 13th century BCE at the end of the Bronze Age. In fact, the current consensus among scholars is that Jericho was unoccupied from the late 15th century until the 10th/9th centuries BCE, although this has been questioned by recent excavations. Tell es-Sultan remained unoccupied from
742-637: The Jericho Governorate of Palestine. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley , with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. In 2017, it had a population of 20,907. From the end of the era of Mandatory Palestine , the city was annexed and ruled by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 and, with the rest of the West Bank, has been subject to Israeli occupation since 1967; administrative control
795-565: The Monastery of Saint George of Choziba in 340 CE and a domed church dedicated to Saint Eliseus . At least two synagogues were also built in the 6th century CE. The monasteries were abandoned after the Sasanian invasion of 614 . The Jericho synagogue in the Royal Maccabean winter palace at Jericho dates from 70 to 50 BCE. A synagogue dating to the late 6th or early 7th century CE
848-816: The Protocol on Economic Relations (Paris Protocol) and the establishment of the Palestinian Civil Police Force . The Paris Protocol regulates the economic relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but in effect integrates the Palestinian economy into the Israeli one. The agreement was incorporated into and superseded by the Oslo II Accord , formally known as the Interim Agreement on
901-608: The Younger Dryas period of cold and drought, permanent habitation of any one location was impossible. However, the Ein es-Sultan spring at what would become Jericho was a popular camping ground for Natufian hunter-gatherer groups, who left a scattering of crescent-shaped microlith tools behind them. Around 9600 BCE, the droughts and cold of the Younger Dryas stadial had come to an end, making it possible for Natufian groups to extend
954-599: The Agreement, Israel promised to withdraw partly from the Jericho region in the West Bank and partly from the Gaza Strip, within three weeks of signing. The Palestinian Authority was created by the Agreement (Article III, Transfer of Authority), and Yasser Arafat became the first president of the PA on 5 July 1994 upon the formal inauguration of the PA. Other parts of the agreement were
1007-582: The Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area , was a follow-up treaty to the Oslo I Accord in which details of Palestinian autonomy were concluded. The agreement is commonly known as the 1994 Cairo Agreement . It was signed on 4 May 1994 by Yasser Arafat and the then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin . The Agreement provided for limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip within five years. Pursuant to
1060-542: The Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration was resumed by Rome " La Sapienza " University and Palestinian MOTA-DACH under the direction of Lorenzo Nigro and Hamdan Taha, and Jehad Yasine since 2015. The Italian-Palestinian Expedition carried out 13 seasons in 20 years (1997–2017), with some major discoveries, like Tower A1 in the Middle Bronze Age southern Lower Town and Palace G on
1113-636: The Middle East and Anatolia . Jericho is the type site for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) periods. Epipaleolithic construction at the site appears to predate the invention of agriculture , with the construction of Natufian culture structures beginning earlier than 9000 BCE, the beginning of the Holocene epoch in geologic history. Jericho has evidence of settlement dating back to 10,000 BCE. During
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#17328514674841166-596: The Palestinian Civil Police and the Israel Police have increased cooperation as confidence-building measures and a part of Palestinian institution-building . Since their jurisdictions are intertwined, cooperative tactics include having Israel police issue traffic citations to Palestinian drivers and repatriating the proceeds to the Palestinian Civil Police. Gaza%E2%80%93Jericho Agreement The Gaza– Jericho Agreement , officially called Agreement on
1219-576: The Palestinian government in "establishing sustainable and effective civil policing arrangements", the European Union Co-ordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support , EUPOLCOPPS, was established beginning 2006. The Palestinian Civil Police development includes creation of a Jericho Police Training School, and strengthening of investigative sectors like Crime Investigation Department, Anti-Narcotics General Administration, and Investigation Section. The EUCOPPS mission has facilitated
1272-689: The Palestinian-administered parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank . Long-time Police head Ghazi al-Jabali was criticised for corruption and curbing press and civil rights freedoms. In 2004, he was kidnapped by the Jenin Martyrs Brigades, part of the Popular Resistance Committees , and only released after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed to fire him. Al-Jabali was replaced with Arafat's cousin, Musa Arafat,
1325-412: The West Bank and the Gaza Strip of 24 and 28 September 1995 (Oslo II, Article XXXI, Final Clauses). Jericho Jericho ( / ˈ dʒ ɛr ɪ k oʊ / JERR -ik-oh ; Arabic : أريحا , romanized : Arīḥā , IPA: [ʔaˈriːħaː] ; Hebrew : יְרִיחוֹ , romanized : Yərīḥō ) is a city in the West Bank , Palestine ; it is the administrative seat of
1378-511: The accuracy of the stratigraphical dating c. 1550. There was evidence of a small settlement in the Late Bronze Age ( c. 1400s BCE) on the site, but erosion and destruction from previous excavations have erased significant parts of this layer. The Hebrew Bible tells the story of the Battle of Jericho led by Joshua , leading to the fall of the Canaanite city, the first one captured by
1431-522: The area. The new site consists of a group of low mounds on both banks of Wadi Qelt . The Hasmoneans were a dynasty descending from a priestly group ( kohanim ) from the tribe of Levi , who ruled over Judea following the success of the Maccabean Revolt until Roman influence over the region brought Herod to claim the Hasmonean throne. The rock-cut tombs of a Herodian- and Hasmonean-era cemetery lie in
1484-534: The armed conflict petered out after three years, Palestinian police forces returned to regular operations in 2003–2004. During the Israel–Hamas war , members of the civilian police force in the Gaza Strip were systemically targeted and killed by the Israeli military. The attacks impacted the ability for humanitarian aid to be delivered, as well as the rise of armed gangs which would frequently raid humanitarian aid trucks in absence of security forces. In order to aid
1537-630: The city have attracted human habitation for thousands of years. Jericho is described in the Bible as the "city of palm trees". In 2023, the archaeological site in the center of the city, known as Tell es-Sultan / Old Jericho , was inscribed in UNESCO 's list as a World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine, and described as the "oldest fortified city in the world". Jericho's name in Modern Hebrew , Yeriẖo ,
1590-460: The descendant of Rahab did not disdain the hospitality of Zacchaeus the publican . Finally, between Jerusalem and Jericho was laid the scene of his story of the good Samaritan." After the fall of Jerusalem to Vespasian's armies in the Great Revolt of Judea in 70 CE, Jericho declined rapidly, and by 100 CE it was but a small Roman garrison town. A fort was built there in 130 and played
1643-662: The duration of their stay, eventually leading to year-round habitation and permanent settlement. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic at Jericho is divided in Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The first permanent settlement on the site of Jericho developed near the Ein es-Sultan spring between 9,500 and 9000 BCE. As the world warmed up, a new culture based on agriculture and sedentary dwelling emerged, which archaeologists have termed " Pre-Pottery Neolithic A " (abbreviated as PPNA). Its cultures lacked pottery, but featured
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1696-516: The eastern flanks of the Spring Hill overlooking the Spring of 'Ain es-Sultan dating from Early Bronze III. The earliest excavated settlement was located at the present-day Tell es-Sultan (or Sultan's Hill), a couple of kilometers from the current city. In both Arabic and Hebrew, tell means "mound" – consecutive layers of habitation built up a mound over time, as is common for ancient settlements in
1749-538: The elaborate funeral offerings in some of these may reflect the emergence of local kings. During the Middle Bronze Age, Jericho was a small prominent city of the Canaan region, reaching its greatest Bronze Age extent in the period from 1700 to 1550 BCE. It seems to have reflected the greater urbanization in the area at that time, and has been linked to the rise of the Maryannu , a class of chariot-using aristocrats linked to
1802-583: The end of the 15th to the 10th–9th centuries BCE, when the city was rebuilt. Of this new city not much more remains than a four-room house on the eastern slope. By the 7th century, Jericho had become an extensive town, but this settlement was destroyed in the Babylonian conquest of Judah in the late 6th century . After the destruction of the Judahite city by the Babylonians in the late 6th century, whatever
1855-468: The faces covered with plaster; cowries were used as eyes. A total of ten skulls were found. Modelled skulls were found in Tell Ramad and Beisamoun as well. Other finds included flints, such as arrowheads (tanged or side-notched), finely denticulated sickle-blades, burins , scrapers, a few tranchet axes , obsidian , and green obsidian from an unknown source. There were also querns , hammerstones, and
1908-404: The following: At Jericho, circular dwellings were built of clay and straw bricks left to dry in the sun, which were plastered together with a mud mortar. Each house measured about 5 metres (16 ft) across, and was roofed with mud-smeared brush. Hearths were located within and outside the homes. The Pre-Sultan ( c. 8350 – 7370 BCE) is sometimes called Sultanian . The site
1961-557: The general character of the remains on the site link it culturally with Neolithic 2 (or PPNB) sites in the West Syrian and Middle Euphrates groups. This link is established by the presence of rectilinear mud-brick buildings and plaster floors that are characteristic of the age. A succession of settlements followed from 4500 BCE onward. In Early Bronze I, the strategraphic layers are Sultan IIIA1 (EB IA, c. 3500-3200 BCE) and Sultan IIIA2 (EB IB, c. 3200-3000 BCE). In Early Bronze II,
2014-457: The lowest part of the cliffs between Nuseib al-Aweishireh and Mount of Temptation . They date between 100 BCE and 68 CE. Herod had to lease back the royal estate at Jericho from Cleopatra , after Mark Antony had given it to her as a gift. After their joint suicide in 30 BCE, Octavian assumed control of the Roman Empire and granted Herod absolute rule over Jericho, as part of
2067-561: The mosaic. The Na'aran synagogue, another Byzantine era construction, was discovered on the northern outskirts of Jericho in 1918. While less is known of it than Shalom Al Yisrael, it has a larger mosaic and is in similar condition. Jericho, by then named "Ariha" in Arabic variation, became part of Jund Filastin ("Military District of Palestine"), part of the larger province of Bilad al-Sham . The Arab Muslim historian Musa b. 'Uqba (died 758) recorded that caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab exiled
2120-504: The new Herodian domain. Herod's rule oversaw the construction of a hippodrome -theatre ( Tell es-Samrat ) to entertain his guests and new aqueducts to irrigate the area below the cliffs and reach his winter palaces built at the site of Tulul Abu el-Alaiq (also written ʾAlayiq ). In 2008, the Israel Exploration Society published an illustrated volume of Herod's third Jericho palace. The murder of Aristobulus III in
2173-453: The oldest towers ever to be discovered. The wall of Jericho may have served as a defence against flood-water, with the tower used for ceremonial purposes. The wall and tower were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period around 8000 BCE. For the tower, carbon dates published in 1981 and 1983 indicate that it was built around 8300 BCE and stayed in use until c. 7800 BCE . The wall and tower would have taken
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2226-641: The private estate of Alexander the Great between 336 and 323 BCE after his conquest of the region. In the middle of the 2nd century BCE Jericho was under Hellenistic rule of the Seleucid Empire , when the Syrian General Bacchides built a number of forts to strengthen the defences of the area around Jericho against the revolt by the Macabees . One of these forts, built at the entrance to Wadi Qelt ,
2279-589: The rise of the Mitannite state to the north. Kathleen Kenyon reported "the Middle Bronze Age is perhaps the most prosperous in the whole history of Kna'an. ... The defenses ... belong to a fairly advanced date in that period" and there was "a massive stone revetment ... part of a complex system" of defenses. Bronze Age Jericho fell in the 16th century at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, the calibrated carbon remains from its City-IV destruction layer dating to 1617–1530 BCE. Carbon dating c. 1573 BCE confirmed
2332-566: The setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan . John Wesley , in his New Testament Notes on this section of Luke's Gospel , claimed that "about twelve thousand priests and Levites dwelt there, who all attended the service of the temple ". Smith 's Bible Names Dictionary suggests that "Jericho was once more 'a city of palms' when our Lord visited it. Here he restored sight to the blind ( Matthew 20:30 ; Mark 10:46 ; Luke 18:35 ). Here
2385-481: The strategraphic layers are Sultan IIIB1 (EB IIA, c. 3000-2850 BCE) and Sultan IIIB2 (EB IIB, c. 2850-2700 BCE). In the Early Bronze IIIA ( c. 2700 – 2500/2450 BCE; Sultan IIIC1), the settlement reached its largest extent around 2600 BCE. During Early Bronze IIIB ( c. 2500 /2450–2350 BCE; Sultan IIIC2) there was a Palace G on Spring Hill and city walls. In Early Bronze IV,
2438-512: The strategraphic layers are Sultan IIID1 (EB IVA; 2300-2200 BCE) and Sultan IIID2 (EB IVB; 2200-2000 BCE). Jericho was continually occupied into the Middle Bronze Age ; it was destroyed in the Late Bronze Age, after which it no longer served as an urban centre. The city was surrounded by extensive defensive walls strengthened with rectangular towers, and possessed an extensive cemetery with vertical shaft-tombs and underground burial chambers;
2491-568: The training of Civil Police personnel as well as the donation of equipment including vehicles from European donor-states. A Palestinian Local Aid Coordination Secretariat strategic report on the Civil Police lists among the force's strengths its leadership's youth and academic credentials, high loyalty and commitment to regulations and motivation, while weaknesses included poorly or undefined legal frameworks and logistical shortages, especially communications equipment and transportation. Since 2007,
2544-664: The work of an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant culture. Artifacts dating from this period include ten plastered human skulls , painted so as to reconstitute the individuals' features. These represent either teraphim or the first example of portraiture in art history , and it is thought that they were kept in people's homes while the bodies were buried. The architecture consisted of rectilinear buildings made of mudbricks on stone foundations. The mudbricks were loaf-shaped with deep thumb prints to facilitate bonding. No building has been excavated in its entirety. Normally, several rooms cluster around
2597-493: Was a period of about 1.4 millennia, from 7220 to 5850 BCE (though carbon-14 -dates are few and early). The following are PPNB cultural features: After a few centuries, the first settlement was abandoned. After the PPNA settlement phase, there was a settlement hiatus of several centuries, then the PPNB settlement was founded on the eroded surface of the tell . This second settlement, established in 6800 BCE, perhaps represents
2650-547: Was discovered in Jericho in 1936, and was named Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue, or "peace unto Israel", after the central Hebrew motto in its mosaic floor. It was controlled by Israel after the Six Day War, but after the handover to Palestinian Authority control per the Oslo Accords , it has been a source of conflict. On the night of 12 October 2000, the synagogue was vandalized by Palestinians who burned holy books and relics and damaged
2703-558: Was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994. Jericho is among the oldest cities in the world , and it is also the city with the oldest known defensive wall . Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (to 9000 BCE), almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth's history. Copious springs in and around
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#17328514674842756-402: Was later refortified by Herod the Great , who named it Kypros after his mother. After the abandonment of the Tell es-Sultan location, the new Jericho of the Late Hellenistic or Hasmonean and Early Roman or Herodian periods was established as a garden city in the vicinity of the royal estate at Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq and expanded greatly thanks to the intensive exploitation of the springs of
2809-454: Was rebuilt in the Persian period as part of the Restoration after the Babylonian captivity , left only very few remains. The tell was abandoned as a place of settlement not long after this period. During the Persian through Hellenistic periods, there is little in terms of occupation attested throughout the region. Jericho went from being an administrative centre of Yehud Medinata ("the Province of Judah") under Persian rule to serving as
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