Republican Guard (Palestine)


 * 1) REDIRECT: Republican Guard (Arab Union)

History
The Republican Guard was founded in December 1955 by second President of Palestine Rafiq el-Tamimi, who wanted to create an elite regiment attached to the army which would be responsible for protecting the executive government, which he could fill with loyal cadres thus reducing the likelihood of a coup. He modeled his new Republican Guard on the Egyptian National Guard (later renamed the Republican Guard), founded earlier that year by President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

During the political crisis of 1956, caused by a significant power struggle amongst government leadership and within Tamimi's National Defence Party, which had recently been exacerbated in the wake of disagreements over the handling of the Suez Crisis despite its resolution in the Arabs' favour, Tamimi complained to PBA-TV that the factionalism within the armed forces had become so acute he suspected the only reason he had not already been deposed was due to the existence of the Republican Guard and its steadfast loyalty to the commander-in-chief and the legitimate administration.

The shoulder sleeve insignia features the Eagle of Saladin as stylised on the coat of arms of the First Palestinian Republic. The coat of arms was changed in 1980 after the founding of the second republic to the modern design of the Eagle of Saladin charged with a shield in the pan-Arab colours of the Palestinian flag. Nevertheless, the Republican Guard still uses the original eagle design on their shoulder flash, which has today become the division's unofficial symbol.

Under Tamimi's successors, the Republican Guard expanded in size, and was augmented to the brigade level in 1963. The 1964 coup, which brought Ahmad Shukeiri to power, could not have been successful without the overwhelming support of the Republican Guard's officer corps. Many historians have stressed this fact as a prime example of the major shift in the status quo which occurred in Palestinian politics in the less than a decade between Tamimi's death in 1957 and the coup.

After the Arab victory in the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequent Palestinian occupation of the State of Israel, the Palestinian government significantly increased the size of the Republucan Guard in order to counteract the threat toward senior leadership by the new Zionist Resistance Front (ZRF). The Republicn Guard became at this time overwhelmingly leftist with a radical officer corps composed mostly of Ba'athists, which would play the decisive role in the success of the 1971 Palestinian coup d'état which brought the Palestinian Regional Branch of the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party to power. After the inauguration of President Rifaf Khan in September of 1971, the Republican Guard was outfitted with a new Political Officers' Corps staffed by Ba'athist cadres under the command of the Military Bureau.

After Khan's death in 1990, Yasser Arafat became President of Palestine. After the 1994 Mount Zion War, a violent month-and-a-half confrontation with the ZRF over the status of Jerusalem, Arafat decided the Republican Guard should have law enforcement authority. The basic functions and responsibilities of the Republican Guard were maintained, but it technically became a military police force with law enforcement authority, and was officially known during this time as the 5th Section if the Military Police Directorate. During the 1996 Mount Zion War, the Republican Guard became the main force responsible for the capture and holding of several thousands of ZRF prisoners of war.

After Arafat's death in November 2004, Roman Kindi became President of Palestine. In September 2005, Kindi placed the Republican Guard back under the jurisdiction of the Army, where it has remained ever since. Today, as in most of Palestinian history, Republican Guard troops wear a dark purple beret. During the 1994–2004 period as part of the Military Police, however, the Republican Guard wore red berets, and were only distinguishable from other provost units by their heavy equipment and armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

Several pictures and artifacts currently exist of historic Republican Guard uniforms and equipment alongside multiple wax sculptures at the Palestine Military Museum in Ramallah.