Скачать или смотреть Palestinian policewomen deployed to direct chaotic West Bank traffic

(13 Dec 2007)
1. Various of Palestinian policewomen marching along street
2. Palestinian police officials walking along street
3. Various of Palestinian policewoman Alan Saweer directing traffic
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Alan Saweer, Palestinian policewoman:
"I'm happy, as being happy and I like my job then nothing will be hard and difficult for me."
5. Policewoman directing traffic
6. Low shot of policewoman directing traffic
7. Various of policewoman directing traffic on street
STORYLINE:
Palestinian pedestrians gawked at the unusual sight of women directing chaotic Ramallah traffic on Wednesday, the first batch of women to venture into a job traditionally reserved for Palestinian men in the West Bank.
The women, dressed in uniforms of navy blue trousers and light blue shirts, directed traffic and ordered people to use white-striped crossings in the centre of town, an area crammed with honking cars and pedestrians.
Many of the women also topped their uniforms with navy blue headscarves.
The women belonged to the first class of Palestinian policewomen who recently completed a European Union-sponsored training programme, part of a broader EU makeover of the demoralised and ill-equipped Palestinian law enforcement agencies.
Their duties include traffic patrols, house searches and security checks on women at prisons and institutions like universities.
The effort is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' attempt to impose law and order across the chaotic West Bank and wrest control back from militants and petty criminals.
Abbas has beefed up police forces in West Bank towns, confiscated stolen cars and cracked down on thugs demanding protection money from shop keepers.
Roles of authority for women are widely frowned upon in conservative Palestinian society, but the new officers feel upbeat about their new job.
"I'm happy," Alan Saweer one of the new Palestinian policewoman on the streets of Ramallah, said. "I like my job then nothing will be hard and difficult for me."
According to the most recent EU count, the overall number of women in the Palestinian civil police service was only 500, compared to more than 18-thousand men in the service.
These women were confined mostly to clerical and administrative duties.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...