Since 2005 that the Israel regime headed by Ariel Sharon, also known as the “butcher of Sadra and Shatila,” was defeated in Gaza and withdrew from the enclave disgracefully, one of the strategic goals of the occupying regime in the West Bank has been suppressing pro-resistance discourse and repetition of the Gaza scenario there. But after nearly two decades, the course of developments in the West Bank has gone exactly in a direction that for years the Israelis feared as a nightmare. Actually, the resistance forces, in addition to creating a pro-resistance discourse, have also boosted their military presence in the West Bank. In the meantime, the city of Jenin is a potential spot where a second Gaza can emerge in the occupied territories.
Jenin, the epicenter of anti-occupation struggle
In recent months, all eyes in the occupied Palestinian territories have been on Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank’s north, where the Palestinian youths have been grabbing calm from their Israeli enemies.
Since 1948 when the apartheid Israeli regime was created, Jenin has been the linchpin of the resistance to the Israeli occupation, and during the first Israeli-Arab war, the Arab forces and Palestinians blocked its seizure by the Israelis. In 2002 that the Israeli forces raided the West Bank, the camp resisted against them. The barbarous raid that left tens of Palestinians dead and a number of Palestinian houses demolished made the Palestinians more determined to struggle for liberation. The children of those days who saw the plight caused by the Israelis now are taking up arms under the flag of Arin Al-Osoud (Lions’ Den) and Jenin Brigade groups to take revenge of the innocent bloods shed by Zionists. Home to 72,000 Palestinians, this camp is in improper conditions due to Israeli-imposed economic sanctions, and this is another major reason for its anti-occupation struggle.
How the Palestinian groups have managed to reach this level of military power and deterrence despite encirclement and occupation is a question that has confused the Israelis.
Despite the fact that the Israeli regime, using intelligence provided by Mahmood Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, has been carefully watching the Palestinians in the West Bank and al-Quds until recently in order to block their arming, the Palestinians have started a new path to fight against the occupation since last year. Resistance groups in the West Bank, spearheaded by Lions’ Den group, announced their existence in 2022 and not long after, they pushed the Israelis up against the wall and brought about a black and bloody year for Tel Aviv. According to security authorities and Israeli media, hundreds of operations, called ‘martyrdom-seeking operations’ by the Palestinians, were carried out against illegal Israeli settlers last year, killing 30 and injuring dozens more.
Jenin is a region that is almost out of the control of the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus that faces many problems collecting intelligence from the Palestinians for supply to Israelis, and one of the reasons that made Tel Aviv angry with the Palestinian Authority was its failure to provide information to the occupying regime. Indeed, due to the weakness of the Palestinian Authority many Palestinian fighters have defected from the body of its intelligence force and joined the popular resistance forces in Jenin. Actually, the youths in Jenin in particular and in the West Bank in general are rising to take back their land after seven decades being under occupation.
The Israeli regime not only kills the attackers in Jenin but also detains all of their family members and even relatives and tortures them to intimidate others. But such actions have not yielded any results as the Palestinians have expanded their operations fearlessly.
The new generation of resistance in the West Bank is ringing the alarm bells for the Israeli leaders who know that contrary to their expectations, not only crackdown has not influenced the Palestinian struggle, but also the resistance groups grow more determined to continue their path as pro-compromise choice proves a failure and Gaza resistance scores back-to-back victories in Israeli-waged wars. In other words, the Palestinians of the West Bank have come to the understanding that that the only option to liberate the occupied territories is armed struggle and the Israeli enemy only understands the language of force. The fact that Palestinian teenagers without any fear hit the Israeli forces with cold weapons and firearms indicates that these young people have seen the crimes of Israelis with their own eyes since childhood and have prepared themselves for a violent future.
One of the important points of the resistance power gain in Jenin is alignment of all of the residents of the camp with the resistance groups. The residents support them and reject to provide intelligence to the Israelis on them. No images of their members are published on social media and the Israelis have no data on their commanders to eliminate them, and if Tel Aviv makes any success against them, it is because of blind and indiscriminate attacks.
Second resistance front
The armed struggle against the Israeli occupation was started by Gaza-based resistance groups years ago and they added to their power day by day until they managed to deal heavy blows to the Israeli enemy in largely unequal combats. The victories of Gazan groups in recent years that forced the Israeli regime to yield to their demands represent a beacon for the West Bank-based armed groups to move in their path to victory. The fact is that Jenin is more threatening to Tel Aviv than Gaza is and is regarded as the second resistance front.
Inspired by fellow fighters in Gaza, the Jenin-based fighters carry out martyrdom-seeking operations in the illegal Israeli settlements. Meanwhile, they enjoy military and logistic and spiritual support of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The security situation in Jenin has reached a disastrous level in recent months and the Israeli leaders are disappointed in the face of resistance in this region. The Israeli military has tried many times to destroy the resistance by attacking Jenin, but they have always failed to counter the armed resistance.
In the current situation, Jenin has become the main security and military concern of Tel Aviv, and Israeli analysts say that this camp has become like a fortress surrounded by Palestinian barriers and surveillance cameras, and this makes it difficult for the Israeli military to operate there. Amir Bar Shalom, an Israeli journalist and analyst, believes that Jenin camp has become a stronghold, and the Palestinians have installed CCTV cameras there and have a strong intelligence service and surveillance forces. At night, they set up obstacles and checkpoints.
“Every raid by the Israeli army is no longer just an arrest operation but a major battle,” added Shalom.
Indeed, Palestinian operations have turned Jenin into a slaughterhouse of the Israelis and left the Israeli leaders into a shock. A regime claiming to be the region’s largest military power which possesses over 200 nuclear warheads has been brought to its knees by Palestinian youths. Dispatching tens of thousands of forces from Mossad, police, and army to Jenin vicinity is expressive of the fact that Tel Aviv is incapable in the face of the Palestinians.
As 2022 was a bloody and dreadful year for the Israelis, the new year, given the further power boost of resistance in Jenin that helps expand the range of operations and also the deepening security and political gaps in Tel Aviv, would be even darker than before and bring the Israeli regime closer to collapse.
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