On Friday, March 6, 2009, the training department from the High Judicial Council (HJC), in cooperation with the Netham Project funded by USAID began a training course for First Instance and Conciliation Judges in the southern provinces of the West Bank. The training sessions were run by two Jordanian judiciary experts and focused on managing criminal cases.
The workshop was held at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah and attendees were welcomed by Mr. A'dnan Ashu'iabi, a member of the HJC. He gave thanks and praised the efforts of the Jordanian Judicial Institute for assisting with the training. Mr. Ashu’iabi added that during the three days, two judges from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Honorable Judge Dr. Abd Erhman Tawfiq and the Honorable Judge Dr. Ali Abu Hajleh, would lead them through their training. Furthermore, he continued that this session would contribute to deepening the judges' expertise at the judicial and academic levels. “It is a great opportunity for the judges to increase their knowledge in criminal law and how to apply to it the managing a case. Which all has great significance in the processing of such cases from beginning to end,” mentioned Mr. Ashu’iabi.
Dr. Susan Coleman of the Netham project greeted the group by saying, "This workshop came both as a result of the support of the Honorable Issa Abu Sharar and the survey analysis done by the HJC and the Netham project. We have the honor to fund these training cycles that will improve the Palestinian Judiciary and the country as a whole." She continued by discussing that throughout her study of the Palestinian judicial system an increasing number of cases have been filed in the courts. This is an indictor of the citizen’s trust in the judicial system. In turn, pending cases are being disposed of as a result of increased knowledge by court staff and judges. An example of such is the Bethlehem Courthouse, in which the disposal rate is over 100%, meaning that the number of disposed cases is greater than the number of incoming cases.  With an increasing disposal rate backlog will soon be eliminated.
Furthermore, Jordanian Judge Abd Erahman Tawfiq, Head of the Jordanian Cassation Court and former head of the high criminal court, expressed his pleasure in participating in the training of the Palestinian judges. However, at the same time, he referred to the deficiency in the Palestinian criminal procedure since it tries to combine both the Jordanian and Egyptian laws but is not yet able to harmonize the two systems.
Dr. Ali Abu Ehjeileh an Amman appeal court judge said, "This workshop shows the serious desire of the Chief Justice in developing an independent and effective judiciary.” Dr. Ehjeileh added, "I am surprised by the increasing volume of criminal cases filed. This phenomenon is not only in Palestine but also in Jordan, where the number of criminal and felony cases has grown to 60,000 cases filed in Amman  alone. With the increased caseload the number of available judges is around 50, but some have little or no experience. The solution is not only to increase the number of judges, but it lies in training and qualifying the judges and to keep them informed of current and important issues."
According to Judge Raed Abd Elhamid, chief of the training committee at the HJC, this event is a part of a series of training workshops targeting the judges of the West Bank in both First Instance and Conciliation courts. He added, "What we hope to achieve from these workshops is to obtain a unified procedure for the management of a criminal case in First Instance and Conciliation courts."