“Safe haven for terrorists”: Israel sends more than a thousand soldiers to Jenin

“Safe Haven for Terrorists”
Israel sends over a thousand soldiers to Jenin

07/04/2023 00:23

The city of Jenin in the West Bank is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians. Israel is launching a major offensive there for the first time in decades. Your exit is open. The situation could also deteriorate on other fronts.

For the first time in two decades, Israel has launched a large-scale military offensive in the West Bank. After several air strikes last night, the army moved into the Palestinian city of Jenin with ground troops. At least eight Palestinians were killed, including a 16-year-old. Dozens more were injured, some critically, according to Palestinian sources. Fierce firefights broke out in the city for hours. At least one of the dead was reported to be a Palestinian militant. The fighting continued in the evening, an insider told the Reuters news agency in the afternoon that the operation will probably last at least 24 hours.

Most recently, the signs of a major offensive had increased. In Israel, there had been increasing calls for tougher action in Jenin for weeks. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was “time to start a broad operation to eliminate terrorist nests” in the north of the West Bank instead of using tweezers. Similar demands came from the extreme right-wing police minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

After the start of the offensive, military spokesman Richard Hecht said the aim of Operation “Home and Garden” was to smash “terrorist infrastructure”. The military does not want to occupy the city, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, Jenin should no longer be “a safe haven for terrorists”. According to him, since last September 19 Palestinians have fled to Jenin, less than 80 kilometers from Jerusalem as the crow flies, after attacks on Israelis.

According to reports, more than a thousand soldiers are involved in the operation. According to the army, during the course of the day they discovered a warehouse with weapons and explosives under a mosque, which they confiscated. According to media reports, there were also clashes between the residents of a Palestinian village and residents of a nearby settlement in the West Bank.

nucleus of militant Palestinians

The densely populated city of Jenin and the associated refugee camp with around 17,000 inhabitants have been a stronghold of militant Palestinians for years. In addition to Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, the militant Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad and other groups have also gained massive influence there in recent years. They are mostly financed by Iran.

The last time there was a comparable operation was a good 20 years ago during the second Palestinian uprising (2000-2005). In 2002, Israeli soldiers and militant Palestinians fought for days in the narrow streets of the camp. More than 50 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed at the time.

Hamas called for the mobilization of the Palestinians in the West Bank in the morning and pledged support for their fighters in Jenin. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad said: “As long as this aggression does not stop, the options for response will be wide and comprehensive.” The spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spoke of a “new war crime” and called on the international community to “break its shameful silence and take serious measures”.

Expert: “We’re just buying ourselves time”

According to Jochanan Zoref of the Institute for National Security Studies, the fighting could spread to other fronts. “Hamas and other militant groups in the Gaza Strip and in neighboring Lebanon were taken by surprise by the attack,” he said. They are now weighing whether they should participate from their areas. This also depends on the number of victims and the strength of the resistance in the West Bank. However, Zoref does not see the deployment as a sustainable solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This is only possible if Israel re-enters a political dialogue with the PA. The military cannot solve it alone. “We’re just buying ourselves time.” Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been idle since 2014.

The security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has been tense for a long time and recently deteriorated again after two Palestinians killed four Israeli settlers. Since the beginning of the year, more than two dozen people have died in attacks by Palestinians. During the same period, more than 140 Palestinians were shot dead or killed in airstrikes during confrontations, Israeli military operations, or after their own attacks.

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians claim the areas for their own state.