Anas Namir

**Anas Namir Nuseir** (Arabic: أنس نمر نصير; b. 19 February 1968 in Bethlehem) is a Palestinian politician who currently serves as Vice President to Roman Kindi. He serves simultaneously as Commissioner (chief of staff) of the Gendarmerie, as well as Chair of the Public Security Bureau of the Regional Command of the Palestinian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.

## Biography

Namir was born in Bethlehem in February 1968, shortly after the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestine following Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War. His father was a civil engineer from Damascus, and his mother a schoolteacher born and raised in Bethlehem. An only child, his parents left the country for Syria with their son in early 1970 after their home was demolished following a confrontation between the occupation authority and their neighbourhood in central Bethlehem regarding a gated settlement being constructed nearby. After arriving in Damascus, his father joined the Syrian branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. His father helped organise funding for infrastructure needed in Palestine by the Ba'ath-led partisan movement known as the Palestinian National Salvation Front (PNSF), which contributed to PNSF victory in the 1976–1979 Sinai War that ended the occupation.

Following the restoration of the Palestinian republic under a new Ba'athist administration, Namir's family returned to Palestine, settling in Ramallah, which served as the seat of government as East Jerusalem was still under Israeli military control. His father joined the Palestinian Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party upon arriving in Ramallah, and was given the position of Director of Arterial Indrastructure in the government's State Secretariat of Transportation. Namir, now eleven years of age, was enrolled in a local elementary school as well as the Palestinian Army Cadets Corps, in which he would thrive and remain until graduating from the program at age 17 in 1985.

After graduating from secondary school in 1986, Namir enrolled in the Gendarmerie's officer program at Arsuzi Military Academy, at the time located next to the Ramallah Garrison of the army reserves. Upon graduating from the officer program in 1990, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Gendarmerie's Domestic Policing Division, responsible for civilian law enforcement in the country. He rose quickly though the ranks, and by early 1993 was already a major. At the start of the 1994 Mount Zion War which marked the beginning of the Second Intifada, martial law was declared and the Domestic division came under the jurisdiction of the State Secretariat of Defence. Namir was assigned the role of overseeing the defence of the seat of government, and was severely injured during an Israeli air strike on the *Mukataa* compound in Ramallah, however he recovered within a year. During the 1996 war, now a colonel, he commanded one of the Gendarme brigades responsible for pacifying East Jerusalem after much of the city came under Palestinian control. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords which ended the war and the Second Intifada, the seat of government was moved to East Jerusalem, and Namir was promoted to major general and given command of the new department responsible for security in East Jerusalem.

Following President Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, Namir was given the responsibility of leading the state funeral which was broadcast on national and international television and attended by many dignitaries. After the election of Roman Kindi to the presidency, Namir was promoted to the rank of general, and in 2008 given the position of Deputy-Commissioner of the Gendarmerie. In March 2010, following the retirement of Commssioner Ahsan Jelloul, Namir was officially made Commissioner of the Gendarmerie.