A cautious calm prevailed throughout the Jenin camp and its surroundings in the occupied West Bank, after a night that included clashes between resistance members and the Palestinian security services that attempted to carry out a storming operation at the main entrance to the camp.
For 25 days, the camp has witnessed clashes between resistance fighters and the Palestinian Authority, in the context of a campaign by the security services against what they described as outlaws, which resulted in the killing of 11 Palestinians.
The clashes sparked after the authority arrested the two young men, Ibrahim Tubasi and Imad Abu al-Haija, which sparked the anger of the Jenin Brigade, which held the authority’s cars hostage to demand their release.
The authority rejected the demand of the Jenin Brigade of the Al-Quds Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement – to release the two young men.
The Palestinian Authority launched an operation called “Protecting a Homeland,” and said it aimed to “restore security and stability and save the lives of citizens from the increasing security chaos.”
The official spokesman for the Palestinian Security Forces, Brigadier General Anwar Rajab, says that the campaign targets “outlaws,” pledging to pursue them “in all parts of the West Bank, with all their addresses and names.”
Meanwhile, the Jenin Brigade says that the Palestinian Authority wants “a Jenin without resistance weapons,” and stressed that “the fighters’ compass is clear and it is against the Israeli occupation only, and that they have adopted resistance on behalf of the entire West Bank.”
Clashes usually break out between resistance fighters and Palestinian security personnel in the cities of the northern West Bank, especially in Jenin and Tulkarm, coinciding with the continuous invasions of the occupation forces, settler attacks, and Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Escalation of events
Events escalated in the Jenin camp with the killing of the young man, Ribhi Al-Shalabi, during the Authority’s security operations, which surrounded Jenin Hospital and cut off electricity and water to the camp, and then the killing of the leader of the Jenin Brigade, Yazid Ja’aysa, who was being pursued by the Israeli occupation, and the killing of several civilians by bullets from the Authority’s security men.
The Palestinian Authority security services are accused of arresting people wanted by the Israeli occupation, which further complicates the situation in the West Bank.
The authorities in the occupied West Bank – according to human rights data – arrested more than 150 Palestinian citizens, including resistance fighters and those persecuted by the occupation, university students, prisoners of war, preachers, writers, and journalists. The authorities refuse to release them, despite the issuance of judicial decisions to release them more than once.
Demonstrations took place in several areas in the West Bank in support of the Jenin Brigade and in support of the people of the camp, and called for strengthening national unity in resisting the Israeli occupation.
For 4 years, the Jenin camp has been suffering from tensions as a result of Israeli military operations that escalated after October 7, 2023, and resulted in the martyrdom of dozens of Palestinians and the destruction of the camp’s infrastructure.
Killed by the authorities’ bullets
The number of Palestinians who were killed by bullets from the Authority since the start of the last war on Gaza on October 7 of last year has risen to 11 Palestinians, including journalist Shatha Al-Sabbagh and 5 members of the security services.
On Sunday, a Palestinian government human rights body called for the opening of a criminal investigation into all cases of killing in the Jenin camp.
On December 22, the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network launched an initiative calling for the adoption of dialogue as a means to address the crisis in Jenin, stressing its readiness to mediate in order to defuse the tension.
Weaponizing power
On the other hand, Israeli Army Radio reported that the authorities accepted the army’s recommendation and refused to provide the Palestinian Authority with weapons to support its operation targeting resistance fighters in Jenin, in the northern West Bank.
Army Radio said that Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy recommended to the political leadership not to transfer weapons to the Palestinian Authority, a recommendation that was supported by Defense Minister Israel Katz, before it was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The radio indicated that the decision not to provide the Authority with weapons was taken despite the fact that the United States had exerted great pressure on Israel in recent days, and specifically requested that the Authority be provided with Kalashnikov weapons, ammunition, and armored vehicles.
According to Army Radio, the new Israeli decision was taken despite the fact that the Israeli security services believe that the success of the Authority’s operation in Jenin is in Israel’s security interest.
Popular denunciation
In turn, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) denounced the practices of the authorities in Jenin and their continued pursuit of resistance fighters wanted by the occupation, and their escalating targeting, and called on all Palestinian factions and forces and the legal and legal components to take a decisive stance.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine also warned of the worsening state of tension and tension that has been rising in Jenin and its camp for several days, and stressed that “protecting the homeland can only be achieved by warding off strife and standing united in the face of the Israeli occupation.”
In the same context, the Palestinian Human Rights Institutions Association demanded an end to the security campaigns in the West Bank camps, and called for resorting to the language of dialogue.
The Palestinian Human Rights Institutions Association said that cases of killing at the hands of the security services constitute an extrajudicial killing and require accountability.
The group pointed out that the security campaigns of the Palestinian Authority are political and have led to the fall of innocent victims, condemning the killings that took place at the hands of the security services in the West Bank.
In turn, the “Resistance Committees in Palestine” denounced the Authority’s agencies launching a campaign targeting resistance fighters and those wanted by the occupation “in a state of complete harmony and clear consistency with the Zionist agenda that aims to eliminate the state of resistance with the aim of emptying the West Bank of resistors, to facilitate the implementation of plans to annex and Judaize the West Bank and Jerusalem,” as it put it. .
The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad also launched a petition affirming that the lives of Palestinians are not a place for complacency or compromise, in protest against the security campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority security services against the resistance fighters in Jenin and its camp.