Ghazi al-Jabali is a Palestinian police officer. He was the Gaza Strip Chief of the Preventive Security Service, appointed by the Palestinian Authority. Al-Jabali, who held the rank of Major general at the close of his tenure in the Palestinian security forces, had been a police commander and chief of the Gaza police since the early 1990s.
Since 1994 he has been the target of repeated attacks by Palestinian groups opposed to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, including gunfire aimed at his offices and a bomb that destroyed part of his house.[1] He has also been the subject of a 1997 arrest warrant and extradition request from Israel, based on accusations that he ordered Palestinian police officers to attack an Israeli checkpoint in July 1997.[2]
Al-Jabali was the target of protests after the shooting deaths of three Palestinian teenagers during clashes with police forces; demonstrators claimed that al-Jabali had given police officers orders to shoot protesters throwing stones during a Hamas organized demonstration in support of Osama bin Laden.[3][4]
Al-Jabali resigned from his post as chief of police in Gaza in June 2002, during a security forces shake-up that also saw the dismissal of Colonel Jibril Rajoub and the resignation of Colonel Mohammed Dahlan. Along with his resignation he announced his intention to oppose Yaser Arafat as a candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority.[5] He was appointed chief of Palestinian Civil Police Forces in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in October 2003.[6]
A February 2004 gunfight Gaza police headquarters was construed by some officials as an attempt on al-Jabali's life. Other officials blamed violence on his rival Mohammad Dahlan members of the body he formerly commanded, Preventive Security Service.
Al-Jabali was criticised for corruption and curbing press freedoms, as well as the arrest of Eyad Sarraj, a civil rights activist.[7]
On July 17, 2004, he was kidnapped at gunpoint by the Jenin Martyr's Brigade part of the Popular Resistance Committees, who ambushed his convoy and wounded two bodyguards. Al-Jabali was only released after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed to fire him. He was replaced with Arafat's cousin, Musa Arafat, a move which did little to restore public confidence in Police.[7][8][9]
