All throughout 2022, Israeli military incursions across the West Bank have increased in frequency. The raids killed over 200 Palestinians, including combatants and civilians. Then in 2023, Jenin crisis emerges.
However, the assault in Jenin on Thursday, when scores of Israeli special forces raided a home thought to hold combatants, sparking hours of fierce fighting, was more evocative of events that took place there back in 2002, during the second round of Palestinian Intifada, or insurrection. Jenin served as a hub for Palestinian armed groups resisting the Israeli regime all the while.
During the Fight in Jenin two decades earlier, which lasted for a week, at least 52 Palestinians—mostly civilians—as well as 23 Israeli troops died.
Israel has steadily changed its strategy to approach the occupation of the Palestinian people, which has been going on since 1967. They believe Israeli governance is illegal under internationally accepted regulations as a security issue rather than an ideological one since the conclusion of the second Intifada in 2005.
The construction of the barriers surrounding the West Bank has made Israelis largely safe from assault, while the army retaliates against the Palestinians when necessary.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli one-decade leader who recently took office again, is the person who has been in charge of most of that strategy. The longest-serving Israeli PM, Bibi is confident that his plan has been successful and has inked reconciliation agreements with various Arab nations since 2020.
At a press conference last week, Netanyahu stated that his political enemies had told him that if he did not make exceptional concessions to the Palestinian people, he would face a diplomatic hurricane that would swiftly turn into a horrible economic tsunami.
Jenin as a Sign
“In reality, the exact reverse occurred. Four historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab nations, as well as previously unheard-of diplomatic success and economic prosperity, were the results of our programme,” Netanyahu claimed.
Netanyahu is not totally wrong. Even as it has shifted to the far right and tightened its grip over Palestinian lives, Tel Aviv has not faced much international opposition.
However, Netanyahu has been coping with an older Palestinian groups, and many of the country’s young people are growing impatient and more ready to retaliate.
This is what has caused a number of armed organisations to appear in the West Bank during the past years. These groups are purportedly independent of the Palestinian Authority or the conventional Palestinian parties like Fatah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Young people make up the founders of these new organisations, probably most notably the Nablus-based Lions’ Den. Although many of them are connected to the established groups, they have chosen to lead their own path and confront Israel.
As portion of a campaign Israel dubbed “Break the Wave,” it has been one of the factors contributing to an upsurge in Palestinian assaults on Israeli forces last year.
The growing gap between of the senior leaders who have taken over Palestinian political career for long years is a larger issue that is addressed by these new groupings. That includes Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, who is about to turn 90 unpopular, and has no obvious replacement.
Foreign nations are finding it more challenging to step in and bring about peace as a result of the lack of leadership and the formation of the fresh independent organisations, especially if the Israeli government keeps its harsh practices toward Palestinian people. Jenin may be a fresh drive.
