INTERNAL SECURITY

The Palestinian state would have a security force resembling a gendarmerie — but one that is “de-militarized” and does not represent a threatening military force to Israel. A small, highly capable Palestinian counterterrorism unit would be needed to be trained and equipped similar to a SWAT team unit of a large American city. And, a full-spectrum, self-contained counterterrorism system would be established composed of vetted and protected personnel.

• Intelligence officers would need to be clearly vetted to know they can be trusted to detect terrorist activity,
• Counter-terrorism forces need to be clearly vetted to be trusted to raid sites and arrest perpetrators,
• Forensics experts need to be clearly vetted to collect information
• Detention officers need to be clearly vetted to ensure prisoners do not escape and are not released early
• Prosecutors and judges need to be clearly vetted to conduct trials and issue warrants

Meanwhile, Israeli-Palestinian joint operation centers would be needed for sharing intelligence, identifying potential targets and conducting operations. And a clear system would need to be in place to rapidly resolve disagreements between Israelis and Palestinians whether at the level of security professionals, or at the political level.

If all this were to fail, Israel would maintain the ability to defend itself with the knowledge that it would receive American diplomatic support in the aftermath.