Israeli campaign to quell Jenin resistance reaches new heights |
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An Israeli Apache attack helicopter fires during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, June 19, 2023. (Photo: Alaa.Badarneh/EFE via ZUMA Press/APA Images)
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Israel deployed attack helicopters during a military raid on Jenin for the first time in 20 years but was forced to retreat in what may mark an evolution in the capabilities of the Palestinian resistance. |
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Key Developments (June 16-19)
- Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including one child, and
wounded dozens of others during a large-scale military raid on the Jenin
refugee camp on Monday morning, June 19th. The Palestinian Ministry of
Health (MOH) identified the slain Palestinians as Ahmed Yousef Saqr, 15,
Khaled Azzam ‘Asa’sa, 21, Qais Majdi Jabarin, 21, Ahmed Khaled
Daraghmeh, 19, and Qassam Faisal Abu Sirriya, 29. The ministry added
that 91 people had been injured, including 23 in moderate and critical
condition. At least one of those in critical condition is a girl who was
reportedly shot in the head.
Among the injured was also a
journalist, reported to be Hazem Nasser, a cameraman for Al-Ghad TV
channel. Several videos circulating on social media showed Israeli
snipers targeting journalists, clearly marked as press, with gunfire. A
number of journalists were trapped on a rooftop for a period of time,
unable to move as they came under relentless sniper fire. According to
the Palestinian Red Crescent, Israeli forces targeted at least four
Palestinian ambulances during the raid with live fire.
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- Monday’s raid on Jenin was the largest scale raid on the area since January 26, 2023, when 10 Palestinians, including two children and one woman, were killed during a single raid on the Jenin refugee camp. The targets of Monday’s raid were reportedly two Palestinians, including 36-year-old Hamas activist Assem Abu al-Haija, Middle East Eye reported.
In addition to the large number of Palestinian casualties, the Monday raid was significant for several reasons. The army confirmed that Israeli forces sustained significant casualties, with at least seven soldiers injured, which is uncommon. The soldiers were reportedly injured when resistance fighters planted an explosive device targeting the Israeli military vehicles invading the camp. Additionally, Israeli forces deployed helicopters during the raid in what is reported to be the first time since the Second Intifada of the early 2000s. Videos circulating on social media purported to show helicopters firing towards the densely populated refugee camp. The army said in a statement that the helicopter shot toward Palestinian fighters to help the wounded soldiers exit the camp. Al Jazeera reported that a rocket was fired from the helicopter, and a surveillance aircraft was also hovering overhead during the raid. Israeli forces reportedly retreated from the camp around 3:20 pm local time (12:20pm GMT), but were still stationed on the city’s outskirts more than an hour later.
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- On Sunday, June 18, the Israeli cabinet approved a measure, making
approving and constructing illegal settlements in the West Bank much
easier. The resolution transfers the authority over the settlements from
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to ultra-right, religious extremist
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister and a vocal proponent of
Israeli annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.
Sunday’s
resolution, according to Axios, limits the powers of the prime minister
and defense minister over building plans in settlements, “effectively
curbing the ability of the U.S. and other countries to press the
government to suspend such plans.” The move also reduces the stages of
political approval settlement planning must go through, from around four
to five stages to now just two stages of approvals, making it even more
difficult for intervention to stop such plans. Smotrich also announced
that the committee responsible for approving new settlement construction
will convene on Monday to advance planning for 4,000 settlement units
in the West Bank. The announcement came ahead of a visit by the US State
Department. The US had previously warned that transferring such powers
to Smotrich would be a step toward annexation.
- Over the weekend, Israeli forces raided several areas in the West
Bank, sparking confrontations with Palestinians, primarily youth.
Overnight Sunday, at least 14 Palestinians were detained. Raids were
reported in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem – all three primary targets of
Israeli military raids in recent months due to the presence of armed
resistance groups in those areas. The Israeli army also raided Ramallah
area villages and refugee camps, as well as the Tubas district in the
northern Jordan Valley. According to local reports, one Palestinian was
injured after being run over by an Israeli military vehicle during a
raid on the Askar Refugee Camp in Nablus, during which one person was
arrested. Confrontations were also reported in the Nur Shams refugee
camp in Tulkarem, where Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters
in May.
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A damaged Israeli armored vehicle during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, June 19 2023. (Photo: Alaa Badarneh/EFE via ZUMA Press/ APA Images)
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In-depth
Last week’s dispatch considered the recent marked decline in the armed resistance activities in the West Bank, “Carving a resistance haven in an era of defeat.”
It took stock of the claims that Jenin refugee camp had become a
“liberated area” that the Israeli army would be reluctant to enter for
fear of suffering casualties, and it argued that while many of these
optimistic formulations carry elements of truth, Jenin was still not an
adequate guerilla haven, and the armed resistance will have to continue
operating from the margins so long as it exists in a hostile terrain of
colonial counterinsurgency and systemic native collaboration. While this
basic dynamic remains true, at least in the quantitative sense — many
of the resistance fighters have either been martyred or imprisoned,
leaving fewer bodies active in the field — the events of this week show
the first signs of what might be a qualitative shift in the tactics of
the resistance (although this prediction may in and of itself also be
premature).
This morning, the Israeli army launched a massive raid on the
outskirts of Jenin refugee camp — noticeably, not the heart of the camp —
in an attempt to target the Hamas-affiliated Assem Abu al-Haija, 36.
The army killed five Palestinians and injured over 91 in a raid similar
to previous incursions into Nablus and Jenin this year, described as
massacres. But the events in the field did not follow the typical
formula of an Israeli military invasion, which usually sees a few
skirmishes with Palestinian resistance fighters on the defensive and a
subsequent Israeli withdrawal after having successfully completed the
operation’s objective. Instead, a number of unexpected things happened.
Most notably, resistance factions detonated a remote explosive device
directly underneath a new state-of-the-art Israeli armored troop
carrier, “the Panther,”
which was particularly designed to withstand IEDs. The vehicle was
significantly damaged, and several more vehicles had to be summoned to
the field to drag it back during the army’s retreat. During this period,
particularly intense clashes took place between the army and resistance
fighters. Seven Israeli soldiers were reported injured as a result of
the explosive, and were airlifted to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. What’s
more, an Israeli military helicopter entered the fray and launched
several rockets toward the buildings from which the resistance fighters
were engaging the army. This is the first time since the Second Intifada
that Israeli air power has been marshaled against Palestinians in the
West Bank, and the reported reason for the air assault was to secure the retreat of the army’s ground forces. |
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The meaning of these developments with respect to a possible
evolution in the resistance’s capabilities remains unclear, but what is
clear is that the Israeli army did not expect the explosives made by the
resistance would improve so quickly. At the same time, the Israeli
government has been pushing for a more wide-ranging and longer-term
invasion of Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, perhaps
something resembling a small-scale version of Operation Defensive Shield
from 2002 during the Second Intifada, when Israel reoccupied all of the
West Bank’s PA-controlled territories. While the Israeli army has
expressed hesitation to carry out such an invasion, the Shabak, Israel’s
intelligence services, has come to be surprised by the level of
improvement of Palestinian IEDs and fears that Palestinian armed
resistance might spread to other areas of the West Bank.
The result has led to a constellation of competing views
within the Israeli security establishment, with the government pushing
for a more aggressive army re-invasion, the army counseling restraint
for fears of the potential entanglements that might result from a
lengthy military reoccupation, and the Shabak expressing concern at the
apparently growing capabilities of the resistance. The question of which
of these views will ultimately prevail hinges on what will happen in
the field during future raids into Jenin. These raids are all but
guaranteed, as the Israeli army cannot let this kind of development
slide without retribution or the restoration of Israeli military
“deterrence.” The battles to come will shape the direction that the
armed Palestinian resistance might take, with many different possible
outcomes, some more or less optimistic than others, but we can say that
the resistance today is very much alive.
Important Figures
- More than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the
start of the year in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem
- 28 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel in 2023
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Senior Palestine Correspondent |
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