Tulkarem, occupied West Bank – Tea, coffee and assault rifles sit on the table outside the front door of Maysa* in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Every so often, she emerges with more trays of drinks and cookies for the small group of young Palestinian fighters gathered in her alley beneath rows of fabric awnings covering the spaces between the camp’s houses.
“These are our sons, our souls. All they want is a dignified life,” says Maysa, a woman in her forties with a bright face and warm smile.
“All over the world, in all countries, people claim to be democratic and want to live free. And our youth?
“They have no other choice than the path of armed resistance,” she said, standing behind the seated fighters. “There is no land left – the occupation has taken everything. »
The fighters in the Nur Shams refugee camp are part of a broader phenomenon of re-emergence of Palestinian armed resistance to decades of Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
Centered in the northern regions, it began in the Jenin refugee camp more than two years ago, in June 2021, before expanding to, among others, Nablus, Jericho and Tulkarem.
This development has seen the rise of armed groups made up of young men aged 17 to 35, the majority of whom are in their early 20s. With limited capabilities, the groups focus on defense during Israeli military raids on camps and attacks on Israeli military checkpoints and illegal settlements.
With his rifle strapped to his chest, Ziad*, a senior official in the Tulkarem Brigades, is a man of few words. “It’s our right to defend ourselves,” the fighter in his 20s told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Israel’s ongoing war in the besieged Gaza Strip, where more than 18,200 Palestinians, including more than 7,000 children, have been killed, only “encourages more men to join the resistance”, adds -he.
The latest Israeli attack began on October 7, when the Gaza-based armed resistance group Hamas launched a surprise operation into Israeli territory just outside the Gaza Strip, during which around 1,200 people were killed and some 200 captured.
Intensification of raids
Over the past two years, Israel has significantly intensified its deadly raids in the northern occupied West Bank and killed dozens of fighters in drone attacks and targeted assassinations. This seriously hampered the ability of some resistance groups to continue.
But armed resistance remains in Tulkarem, particularly in the Nur Shams refugee camp, one of two camps in the city, collectively housing more than 34,500 Palestinians expelled by Zionist militias from their homes in Haifa, Jaffa and Caesarea. during the Nakba of 1948.
Despite numerous deadly raids on both camps over the past two months, which left dozens of civilian and combatant victims, Israeli forces have been unable to enter Nur Shams on foot, deterred by obstacles and a number import of improvised explosive devices.
Although smaller hand-thrown cans are generally more common, the last two years have seen an increase in the production of larger cans filled with flammable powder. These homemade bombs, used in the northern occupied West Bank, are intended to slow down army raids and can damage Israeli armored vehicles or even render them unusable.
“The occupying army thinks a thousand times before entering Nur Shams,” explains journalist and Tulkarem resident Sami al-Sai.
“They don’t go in there on foot. They are bringing in the bulldozers because the amount of explosive bombs in Nur Shams is unprecedented,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
During a 30-hour raid on the two camps on October 19 and 20, the Israeli army killed 13 Palestinians, including five children, and injured 25 others.
“The army used unmanned drones – they killed seven people in one go. The rest were killed by snipers, including some children,” says al-Sai.
Growing support for armed resistance
The Israeli army’s raids had a more profound impact on the other camp of Tulkarem, which suffered heavy damage to roads and infrastructure. As the army has been unable to enter Nur Shams on foot and there have been no attempts for several weeks, fighters believe a raid is imminent.
“We expect them to arrive at any time. They could come while we are sitting here talking,” says Ziad, adding that “the fighters are ready.”
For Ziad and other fighters, the past three decades of growing military occupation and illegal settlements by Israel, as well as failed negotiations, mean that “armed resistance is the only solution.”
“What was taken by force can only be taken back by force,” says Ziad, citing a well-known speech by the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. “There is no point in starting negotiations,” he adds.
Popular support for armed resistance has increased across the occupied West Bank over the past two years, with many slain fighters becoming symbols of resistance and thousands attending their funeral processions.
Sitting across from Ziad is Laith*, another senior fighter in his mid-twenties.
“Despite the lack of capacity, there is armed resistance in the West Bank that undermines the occupation,” says Laith. “Even if we are killed, 10 more will appear,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
The young men are well aware of their mortality, knowing they could soon be killed, he adds, but they are willing to give their lives for the cause. “Nothing happens overnight,” says Laith. “It requires a lot of sacrifice and we must work hard so that the next generation can pick up where we left off and lead us towards liberation. »
Israeli and Palestinian pressure
Two armed resistance groups were formed in Tulkarem in less than a year.
In Nur Shams, fighters began gathering after Saif Abu Libdeh, 25, was killed by the Israeli army in Jenin on April 2, 2022.
Abu Libdeh had laid the groundwork for the formation of an armed resistance group in the camp. He spent time in Jenin learning from fighters and appeared at press conferences and military parades with his face covered.
Following several large-scale Israeli army raids on Nablus, Jenin and Jericho in January and February this year, the Tulkarem-Saraya al-Quds Brigades armed group, loosely affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)-based in Gaza, began to emerge more visibly.
A few months later, a second group was formed after the assassination of fighter Ameer Abu Khadija on March 23. The Tulkarem-Rapid Response Brigades are affiliated with the armed wing of the Fatah political party, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
One of the key factors contributing to the formation of armed resistance groups over the past two years has been the coming together of fighters from across the Palestinian political spectrum despite long-standing internal conflicts over their party leadership. – notably Hamas, Fatah, PIJ, Palestinian People’s Party. Palestine Liberation Front (PFLP) and others.
The groups’ ability to unite young fighters – who are affiliated with traditional armed groups but often do not take orders from them – has made them a target for both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by the Fatah, which put pressure on many fighters, accepted bribes and amnesty in exchange for the return of their weapons.
On several occasions during funeral processions for slain fighters, Palestinian Authority security forces became violent. They fired tear gas at the crowd, made preventive arrests of participants in the event, forcibly confiscated the flags of the Hamas, PIJ and PFLP parties and fired live ammunition into the air.
The PA also suppressed popular protests in the occupied West Bank on October 17 against the Israeli bombing of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, killing a 12-year-old Palestinian girl in Jenin.
Mehraj Shehadeh is the father of a high-ranking Jihad fighter, who was killed on November 6 in a targeted assassination along with three other fighters. Sitting in his living room in the Tulkarem refugee camp, Shehadeh says his son and others “sent a strong message to all leaders – from (Palestinian Authority President) Mahmoud Abbas to Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh.”
“They said, ‘We’re the ones uniting people in the streets, not you.’ They united people with their guns and blood,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune. Although he himself works in the PA security services, Shehadeh does not agree with all of the PA’s policies, particularly against fighters.
“If they had 30 bullets, they would share them,” he continues, describing the fighters as a “school”.
“There were over 17,000 people at their funeral. It was one of the largest funeral processions in the history of Tulkarem.
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of residents and fighters.