Jenin, occupied West Bank – Since Saturday, Nahida al-Sabbagh has suffered fighting in the Jenin refugee camp, where she lives. Fighting between local armed Palestinian fighters from the Jenin Brigades and security forces continues around the clock near her home.
But it is the identity of the security forces who confront these fighters that shocks Nahida the most. They are not Israeli. In fact, they are Palestinian and represent the Palestinian Authority (PA).
“We never imagined that the security forces would treat the camp this way,” said the 52-year-old Palestinian.
The clashes around the al-Sabbagh family home, in the al-Mahyoub neighborhood of the camp, are the result of an ongoing campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority security apparatus under the name ” Protect the homeland.” The campaign was justified as an effort to “pursue criminals” and lawbreakers and prevent the camp from becoming a battlefield like Gaza, according to Anwar Rajab, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority security forces.
Rajab also called the Jenin fighters pro-Iranian and “mercenaries,” contributing to attempts by the Israeli far-right to weaken the Palestinian Authority.
The Jenin Brigades, the PA’s main target, has links to the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad but also has members affiliated with other Palestinian groups.
“What they are doing is creating areas outside the control and sovereignty of the PA,” Rajab told Tel Aviv Tribune, referring to Palestinian fighters targeted in the PA operation. “This is evident in their rejection of any presence of the Palestinian Authority and its apparatus inside the camp, thereby serving the agendas of the external forces responsible for the destruction of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. »
The Palestinian Authority raid on the camp, which began on December 14, follows a 10-day siege. During this period, security forces killed an unarmed 19-year-old civilian, Rabhi al-Shalabi, in the camp while he was riding a motorcycle, a scene caught on camera that sparked widespread outrage. Then, on the day the raid began on Saturday, a 13-year-old child, as well as a commander of the Jenin Brigades wanted by Israel, were also killed.
The PA took “full responsibility” for al-Shalabi’s killing, but no immediate measures were announced to arrest the police officers involved or refer them to the prosecutor for investigation, further increasing anger in the streets.
Justifications for the operation have failed to convince the 24,000 Palestinian refugees living in the half square kilometer (0.19 square mile) that makes up the densely populated camp. These residents have endured more than a year of Israeli incursions and raids, and many see the campaign as an attempt to eliminate Palestinian resistance, in line with the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel.
Although this is not the PA’s first campaign against the Jenin camp, it is the first during the Israeli war on Gaza and in the context of ongoing Israeli attacks on the camp, which has the subject of more than 80 raids over the past year, leaving more than 220 dead. and thousands injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Fadi expressed his outrage to Tel Aviv Tribune at what he described happened to him. The 42-year-old said security forces stormed his apartment building and forced nearby residents to leave their homes, arresting them in his apartment.
“They shot me, terrifying my children, just because I was on the balcony. And they didn’t stop there: they broke into my house,” Fadi said, recounting how terrified his and his neighbors’ children were and how he is wanted by Palestinian Authority security forces. after appearing in a social media video talking about his ordeal.
Fadi is adamant that despite the Palestinian Authority’s claims, the camp fully supports the Jenin Brigades.
“Anyone who doubts popular support for the resistance in the camp should go there now and see the public rally around them,” Fadi said. “No one here will abandon the resistance.”
The Palestinian Authority refuses any compromise
The PA exercises partial administrative control over the occupied West Bank – of which Jenin is in the northern part. However, Israel has exercised full military control over Palestinian territory since 1967.
Over the past few days, the Jenin camp has been under siege by the PA, with no movement in or out, with power and water cuts. The medical situation is dire, with ambulances unable to enter or exit, despite the large number of injuries resulting from ongoing clashes between the two sides.
Despite the difficult situation inside the camp and intense fighting, security officials remain determined to continue the operation.
Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Reeh reiterated during a meeting at the Jenin governorate headquarters on Wednesday that the operation would continue until its objectives are achieved.
“We will pursue anyone who attempts to manipulate the resources of our people and sabotage the Palestinian national project,” Hab al-Reeh said.
Some camp residents agree with the campaign’s goals but reject the methods used by security forces.
Hani Hijazi, 54, who lives on al-Sikka Street in the western part of the camp, said he understood the need for security forces to operate within the camp and resolve problems that emerged , but not by the methods that led to the deaths of innocent civilians.
Hijazi, like many others in the camp, fears this could escalate into a broader confrontation between the two sides, potentially leading to a “civil war.”
“Both parties are responsible; fighting is not the solution. Reconciliation exists,” Hijazi said.
The justifications for the operation are “false”
Amid the rapid escalation of events in the camp, residents have questioned the timing of the Palestinian Authority’s operation.
The Jenin Brigades were established in 2021, and although the Islamic Jihad movement constitutes the largest part of it, all Palestinian factions are represented in its military wings, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the military of Fatah – the dominant Palestinian faction. the AP.
Furthermore, Israel has carried out repeated raids on the camp and prosecutions of the armed fighters have not stopped.
Kifah al-Omari, 51, a resident of Bab al-Saha in the center of the camp, asked Tel Aviv Tribune why the Palestinian Authority would intervene.
Al-Omari sat outside her house with her family as she spoke, warming themselves near a wood stove due to the power outage in the camp and the lack of heat in her homes.
“We, those living in the heart of this event, know very well that all the justifications provided by the Palestinian Authority are false,” al-Omari said. “This leaves us speculating about the real reason for this campaign and its timing.”
Like many other Palestinians, al-Omari did not rule out that the cause could be linked to major political arrangements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, preparing the Palestinian Authority to extend its control over Gaza in the event of an agreement to end the war on Gaza. the enclave.
The Israeli government has repeatedly stressed that it does not trust the PA to effectively combat Palestinian resistance fighters, and many Palestinians believe operations like the one in Jenin are an effort to prove that the PA can actually eliminate fighters.
Rajab, the security force spokesman, rejected accusations that the PA was working with Israel against resistance fighters, saying the PA had “provided protection to 200 Palestinians who were targeted for liquidation and immediately murdered by Israel.
“It is a sovereign decision of the highest level of the PA to work with all our efforts, means and methods to prevent another catastrophe and disaster in the West Bank, as happened in the Gaza Strip,” he said. he added, in a new attempt. to justify the raid.
However, al-Omari claimed that camp residents had made offers to the Palestinian Authority to resolve the situation without bloodshed, but were refused.
Instead, al-Omari said, the PA demanded that “the wanted individuals surrender themselves and their weapons.”
“This request was not accompanied by any guarantees or offers to protect them or the camp from the Israeli occupying forces, which is why the fighters and residents of the camp rejected it,” added al- Omari.
