Key Developments (September 8 – 11)
Palestinian resistance groups carried out a number of
operations across the West Bank over the weekend, including the firing
of a rocket towards an illegal Israeli outpost in the northern West
Bank. Notably, the Hebron district has also seen the emergence of new
“brigades’,’ seemingly modeled after the armed militias that have been
cropping up across Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, and Jericho over the past two years.
According to local reports, a local militia targeted a permanent
Israeli military checkpoint at the entrance of the Hebron-area town of
Beit Ummar in the early morning hours of Friday, September 8. In a
statement, the Hamas-affiliated “Bani Naim Brigade,” named after the
Hebron-area village of the same name, claimed responsibility for
targeting the checkpoint with an explosive device, adding that its
members escaped the scene unharmed. In the northwestern West Bank
district of Tulkarem, an Islamic Jihad-affiliated militia, the “Tulkarem
Brigade,” released a statement saying its fighters conducted an
operation around 3:25 am Friday, firing a “heavy and successive barrage
of bullets” towards the Nitzanei Oz military checkpoint. Later on Friday
night, more incidents were reported of resistance activity in Jenin,
Nablus, Tulkarem, and Tubas. The Tulkarem Brigade claimed responsibility
for another two operations the next morning, September 9, targeting
Israeli military checkpoints. On Sunday and Monday, more militias
claimed responsibility for shooting and explosive operations in
Bethlehem, Jericho, and Jenin. A major development came on Sunday the
10th, when the Al-Ayyash Brigade in Jenin released a statement that it
had fired a rocket towards and “struck” the Israeli town of Ramon, on
the other side of the separation wall, with a ‘Qassam 1’ rocket, a type
of projectile first made and developed by Hamas in the besieged Gaza
Strip. Israeli media claimed that the rocket did not cause any damage or
injuries and that the site where the rocket launcher was found was
located by the Palestinian Authority. “Israeli troops were not planning
to investigate the site, but instead leaving it to the PA security
forces,” the Times of Israel said in a report. The brigade hit back at
alleged Israeli claims that its fighters had been arrested, saying “what
the occupation promotes is marketing for a fictitious victory to cover
its failure and appease its extremist right-wing audience.” The brigade
went on to say “the path we walk is not easy and requires a lot of work
and effort. We succeed, we fail, but we will continue, Allah willing,
until we achieve our goal.”
The Palestinian Authority has ramped up its attacks on
dissidents, with students and journalists among the targets of recent
arrest raids.
In recent days and weeks, PA security forces (PASF) have arrested
dozens of Palestinians, including former political prisoners held in
Israeli jails, lawyers, and others who are involved in political
organizing or who have publicly expressed their anger towards the PA’s
campaign of politically-motivated arrests. Over the weekend, PA forces
arrested a student from the al-Najah University in Nablus, as well as
students from al-Quds University in Abu Dis, and Birzeit University in
Ramallah. A journalist was also arrested. The students are the latest
among at least nine university and higher education students who have
been abducted by the PA over the past several weeks. Students from the
Islamic Bloc at the Al-Najah University have been staging a sit-in for
close to two weeks in protest of the PA’s actions, and demanding the
university take action to protect its students. On September 9,
plain-clothes PA officers assaulted and wounded several students at
Al-Quds University, who were protesting the recent arrest of their
fellow student by the PA. Among those present at the demonstration were
students from both the Islamic and leftist Marxist-Leninist blocs of
student government. Hamas has condemned the PA’s targeting of students,
saying in a statement last week that it “serves the occupation and
deepens the wounds of our people.”
Palestinian Authority Security Forces faced off with local
resistance groups in Tulkarem and Jenin over the weekend, as tensions
continue to rise over the PA’s targeted arrest campaign in the West
Bank.
In the Tulkarem area, local reports said undercover PA security
forces had set up flying checkpoints and were stopping and searching
vehicles. The incident took place just days after a gunfight broke out
when PA security forces reportedly opened fire on a vehicle in Tulkarem
that was carrying a number of local resistance fighters. In response to
the searches in Tulkarem over the weekend, the PIJ-affiliated Tulkarem
Brigade released a statement, saying “we understand and know what you
are doing and that you are targeting us…but we are sincere with God,
that our compass points only to the [Israeli] occupation.” On Friday
evening, another gunfight was reported in the Qabatiya area of Jenin,
reportedly between PASF and local resistance fighters. Among the dozens
of Palestinians currently being held are tens of Palestinian resistance
fighters, including those affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and
other non-factional groups like the Lions’ Den in Nablus.
Israeli forces shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on Saturday
in the Al-Arroub refugee camp in the Hebron district of the southern
West Bank.
Milad Monther Wajih Al-Ra’i, 15, was shot by Israeli forces in the
back at the entrance to the refugee camp, according to Defense for
Children International Palestine (DCIP). DCIP said in a statement that
al-Ra’i was shot during confrontations that took place between Israeli
forces and local youth outside a permanent Israeli military tower that
stands at the entrance to the camp. He was shot in the back from a
distance of about 20 meters (66 feet). Following the funeral procession
of al-Ra’i, more confrontations broke out, in which Israeli forces used
live ammunition, injuring five Palestinians, including children.
According to documentation collected by DCIP, 45 Palestinian children
were killed in 2023. Israeli forces also conducted several search and
arrest raids over the weekend, which resulted in armed confrontations in
the Jenin, Qalqiliya, and Jericho areas. At least 20 Palestinians were
arrested during the raids.
Important Figures
- Israel has killed at least 234 Palestinians since the start of the year.
- 5,100 Palestinian political prisoners are currently being held in Israeli jails, including 1,200 administrative detainees.
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