This comprehensive guide provides an overview of the legal and institutional frameworks in the security and justice sectors of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The publication is complementary to the wider engagement of DCAF in Palestine and it is intended to provide a baseline for the Palestinian security and justice sectors and inform development and reform efforts. DCAF hopes the reference guide will be a useful tool for international experts and policymakers promoting good SSG/R practices in Palestine.    

The security and justice sectors have been deeply affected by over fifteen years of political and institutional split. Since 2007, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the de Facto Authority in Gaza have issued separate, at times contradictory legislations, developed distinct bureaucracies and pursued different policies.

Thus, this report takes stock of the evolution of the Palestinian security and justice sectors in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since 2007, detailing relevant legislation, institutional mandates, roles, responsibilities, and organizational structures, including figures of security and justice sector personnel by area and by institution.

The publication is structured into three sections:

• an overview of the legal and institutional frameworks,
• a mapping of the security and justice sectors in the West Bank,
• and a mapping of these sectors in the Gaza Strip.                                                                                                  

DCAF completed the research prior to the Gaza war that started in October 2023. Given the widespread destruction and the dramatic shift in the context, it can be presumed that the realities on the ground have changed.

However, DCAF is working under the assumption that in order to be sustainable, any future institutional architecture in Gaza shall be grounded in domestic legitimacy and built upon existing (security) governance structures.

Therefore, DCAF considers the information and data contained in this report crucial in serving as a baseline reference for addressing security sector governance and reform that will be necessary in any future scenario.