Palestinian Policemen Graduate from a Palestine Red Crescent Society Sign Language Course

(Al Bireh-11/01/2012): Twelve Palestinian policemen graduated today from a course on “Sign language and dealing with hearing-impaired persons” organized by Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and targeting Palestinian policemen. The graduation ceremony took place at PRCS headquarters and was attended by PRCS Head of Operations Mr. Rabah Jaber, PRCS Head of Rehabilitation Programs Ms. Suheir Badarneh, Lt. Col. AbdelHakim Abou’l Roubb, Deputy Training Officer at the Palestinian Police, Mr. Ri’bal Izzat from the General Union of Disabled Persons and a large crowd.
 

In his address, Mr. Jaber underlined the significance of this course and of cooperation between PRCS, a national society which complements the Palestinian Authority on the one hand, and the Palestinian Police, a highly professional and respected apparatus in Palestine on the other hand. He lauded the great achievements made by Palestinian policemen, reflected in their seeking to learn sign language in order to provide more professional services, especially to the hearing impaired. “It is very important to continue this work and to build on this course by creating a joint program between PRCS and the Palestinian police, as well as by developing a Police sign language dictionary containing police terminology and concepts in order to facilitate communications between policemen and the hearing impaired”, he added.
 

Lt. Col. Abou’l Roubb spoke about the serious efforts made by the Palestinian police to build and develop its capacities with a view to ensuring a transparent and professional police apparatus which provides high-quality services to Palestinians by focusing on developing its human capital. He valued cooperation between PRCS and the Police force in various fields and hoped that this cooperation would continue in the best interests of Palestinians.
Mr. Izzat said that the issue of disabled persons must be viewed from a human rights perspective. “This is the perspective on which the General Union of Disabled Persons focuses when dealing with disabled persons and with Palestinians in general”, he added, valuing the role played by the Palestinian police and PRCS in organizing this course.
 

In his speech on behalf of graduates, Captain Rida Marzouk lauded PRCS and valued the role and efforts of its trainers. Trainer Angi Abed called on the Palestinian police to make more efforts in order to serve disabled persons, while trainer Hatem Al Barghouti spoke about the course itself which lasted over two months and covered 40 training hours with the participation of 12 policemen and under the supervision of hearing-impaired trainers and their peers from PRCS.
 

PRCS had, over the past five years, organized tens of sign language courses targeting representatives from public service institutions, students and civil society organizations in line with PRCS’ rehabilitation philosophy which aims at integrating persons with disability and giving them equal opportunities in all fields, which requires changing attitudes in order to facilitate this integration process.