Ministry of Defence (Palestine)

وزارة الدفاع Ministry of Defence
Formed	30 Sep 1994
Type	National defence
Jurisdiction	Arab Union Armed Forces
Headquarters	5 El-Hosseini St Government District Baghdad UAR
Executive	Rajeh Asaad
Parent agency	Council of Ministers

The Ministry of Defence (Arabic: وزارة الدفاع wuzārat ad-difā‘) is an executive department of the federal government of the Arab Union, in charge of the Arab Union Armed Forces and tasked with realising national defence policy. It answers to the Prime Minister via Minister of Defence Rajeh Asaad, and ultimately the President of the Arab Union in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Organisation

The Ministry of Defence acts as a civilian administration for the armed forces, responsible for supporting military operations and coordinating government resources with the service branches. The authority of the Minister of Defence is divided between the General Staff and several civilian directorates and administrative bodies:

• Office of the General Staff: The top military command which oversees the armed forces as a whole, consisting of the joint chiefs of staff and deputy chiefs of staff of the three service branches, as well as each director of the ministry's subordinate directorates.

Directorates

• Military Police Directorate: The law enforcement agency of the Palestinian Armed Forces, responsible for commissioning military police units attached to the active or reserve forces and/or specific military bases and installations.
• Military Intelligence Directorate: The main military intelligence agency, mostly responsible for intelligence units of the Palestinian Army.
• Naval Intelligence Directorate: Responsible for providing intelligence reports to naval command, including assessing other navies' capabilities and coordinating reconnaissance operations.
• Air Force Intelligence Directorate: Oversees military intelligence units in the Air Force.
• Main Directorate of Military Medicine: Responsible for training, supplying and overseeing medical personnel and their operations in all three service branches of the armed forces. Directorate has close operational relationship with Ministry of Health, which runs the directorate's professional oversight committee and trains and licences doctors and other medical personnel.
• Army Logistical Support Directorate: Responsible for coordinating all materiel and related needs of the Army from the civilian realm, supplying logistics regiments to maintain a solid rear.
• Naval and Air Supply Directorate: Responsible for the materiel needs of the Navy and Air Force.
• National Strategic Aerospace Defence Directorate: Responsible for operating and maintaining the nation's complex air defence infrastructure, including anti-aircraft batteries, missile interception systems, civil defence sirens and related equipment, closely coordinating operations with the service branches of the armed forces.

Administrative departments

• Defence Human Resources Department: Responsible for organising recruiting campaigns for the three services of the armed forces as well as the Ministry of Defence civilian administration, and compensates personnel and supports their needs and issues from enlistment to discharge.
• Defence Finance Department: Responsible for overseeing the military budget of Palestine.
• Defence Research & Development Department: Commissions research and development projects relevant to national defence.
• Defence Housing Department: Commissions and maintains all on- and off-base residencies for military personnel.
• Defence Staffing Department: Supplies civilian administrative and support staff to military bases.
• Defence Liaison Office: Responsible for coordinating Ministry of Defence policy with other government ministries and agencies where relevant.
• Defence Legal Department: The legal team responsible for advising and representing the Ministry of Defence and Palestinian Armed Forces.