Don't Joyride in Jenin
Palestinian Authority security forces are fighting Hamas in Jenin. What does this mean for Palestinian unity and a future Palestinian state?
Gunshots rang out in the Jenin refugee camp on Saturday. A suicide car bomb was neutralized as it made its way towards civilians and security personnel. Tires are burning in the streets, and house to house fighting is raging in between arrests of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists.
(Attempted suicide car bomb attack on PA Security Forces in Jenin, Dec. 14)
But this isn’t another IDF raid in Jenin to keep that hotbed of Islamic terrorism cool. Instead, it’s the Palestinian Authority (PA) in a rare attempt to exert control over the West Bank.
A Decade of Weakness
Hamas and PIJ have slowly been gaining strength in the West Bank since 2014, solidifying their control over Palestinian cities such as Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Hebron. The groups have also been increasing their power base by taking control of other West Bank villages through the ballot box.
Meanwhile, the PA has been increasingly viewed as corrupt and ineffective. PA President Mahmoud Abbas is currently on year 18 of a four year term, the only people who succeed in the West Bank are those close to Abbas, journalists and activists are arrested and tortured if they speak out against the regime, and the PA steals the aid given to it instead of using it to help the Palestinian people.
(Anti-PA protestor dragged away by PA secret police, Ramallah - Source: Reuters)
On top of all this, the PA is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to maintaining security. The biggest security threat to the PA are Hamas and PIJ despite these organizations fighting against Israel and for Palestinian liberation. The PA is therefore unable to go in and arrest these terrorists because the optics would make it look as if the PA is a puppet of the Israeli occupation and assisting in the oppression of their own people.
Yet the PA DOES have security cooperation with Israel. They work with Israel to find Hamas and PIJ terrorists, use their surveillance to help stop terror planning, and coordinate with the IDF when they launch large-scale operations.
All of this has caused the Palestinians to lose trust in the PA. When municipal elections are held, Hamas and PIJ affiliate candidates typically win (Hamas and the PIJ usually either aren’t allowed to participate in these elections themselves, or they boycott them). Towns such as Silwad, a-Dahiriya, and Deir Jarir even proudly fly Hamas flags or display pro-Hamas graffiti on their walls. The threat from these Islamists is so great that the Christian town of Taybeh, right next to Deir Jarir, has a PA police roadblock on the road between the two towns to prevent Hamas from attacking the Christian PA supporters there.
(Hamas supporters in the West Bank)
PA Unwelcome
Nowhere is this loss of control more evident than in Jenin.
Long ignored by the PA, Jenin saw PIJ and Hamas begin to take over from their strongholds in the Jenin refugee camp. By 2023, the city was a hotbed of terror activity, with attacks emanating from here killing dozens of Israelis everywhere from the West Bank and West Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. This led to the IDF launching a ground operation here in July of 2023 called Operation Home and Garden, destroying terror infrastructure while arresting and killing dozens of Hamas and PIJ terrorists.
(IDF troops in Jenin in Operation Home and Garden - Source: Flash90)
However, the optics of this operation were… not great, and the Jenin refugee camp looked like a warzone. To express his support for the people in Jenin, as well as to rage against Israel, Abbas went to the northern West Bank city to greet his citizens. It was the first time in 10 years that he had been there, and he received a frosty welcome.
Arriving with dozens members of the PA security forces as bodyguards, he was yelled at by the people there. He quickly left, essentially being run out of the city.
PA Joyrides
After the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7th, 2023, most Palestinians viewed the terror group favorably, further increasing its legitimacy and constituting a direct threat to the PA as it lost even more influence. However, Israel has more or less destroyed Hamas in Gaza and has been hitting Hamas hard in the West Bank.
Given how weak Hamas is currently, the PA believes that now is the opportunity to show the world that it’s ready to take total control over both the West Banka and Gaza when the war in the Strip is over. It knows it needs to prove itself.
Therefore, over the past few months, PA security services have been launching raids to take out and arrest Hamas and PIJ terrorists. However, this is creating friction between the residents and the PA.
(PA Forces in Jenin - Source: AP)
All of this came to a head a couple of weeks ago. Members of PIJ and Hamas stole two armored vehicles from the PA security services in Jenin and started driving them around while waving PIJ and Hamas flags. This direct insult upset the PA and led them to send their special forces into Jenin to show the people who’s boss. The PA closed off all entrances to the city, circled the refugee camp, and began looking for the people responsible for the theft.
The result has been running gun battles between PA security forces and PIJ/Hamas gunmen for over a week.
It’s Popping Off
This leads us to today, December 14th.
Early this morning, PA security forces in Jenin attacked and destroyed a car filled with explosives that was on its way to carry out an attack on the PA soldiers (and would have also killed Palestinian civilians in the process). In the ensuing gun battle, the PA forces killed one of the heads of the PIJ Jenin Brigades, the most powerful armed force in the city.
The fighting continues to rage on, and the Palestinian media machine has been turned upside down. There are Hamas claims that dozens of civilians, including children have been killed and injured, something the PA denies.
(Picture of one of the kids allegedly hurt and posted by a Jordanian journalist. The Arabic says:
“The child Muhammad Al-Amer was martyred by the Palestinian Authority's security forces’ bullets in Jenin. They are a group of criminals and outlaws in the form of authority and scum.”)
(Picture of the same child from above. This poster, who seems to be pro-PA, writes:
“May God enable him to recover and grant him a long life. But you dishonorable and irreligious people, isn’t it a sin for a child like this to carry a weapon, for you to laugh at him, and to and put him on the front lines against the PA???!!! You all are truly the henchmen of Iran... shame on your honor.")
There are claims that the PA has asked the IDF for air support, something the PA denies, yet which may have some truth given the drones circling overhead.
(This Image was taken from the Hamas official Telegram page. The Arabic says:
“Occupation drones seen circling in the skies of Jenin as the Jenin Brigades clashed with the PA security forces”)
Why Should We Care?
This operation, which has flown under the radar given the collapse of the Assad regime, has the ability to make or break the PA. Far from being just a small anti-terror operation, the PA needs to use this battle to prove it can maintain control of the West Bank and keep a lid on terror - crucial if the PA wants to be part of a post-war Gaza.
If it succeeds, the PA will gain more control, which, might empower it to become even more corrupt and totalitarian and further alienate the population. But given the wide ranging support it has from countries throughout the Arab and Western world, and especially given that there’s no other “moderate” option (IE no other option that isn’t on a Western terror list), the PA might not care all that much about popular support.
However, if the PA fails, it will only serve to hasten its demise. Hamas, which has widespread support in the West Bank and whose civil network there is still strong, will likely step in to fill the vacuum. No one wants to see that happen.
Unfortunately, it seems that the best we can hope for is that after this, everything goes back to the status quo.