Palestinian Authority forces Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank on 16 December 2024. (Mohammed Nasser/APA images)

electronicintifada.net

The Palestinian Authority is demonstrating its value and proving loyalty to its Israeli and American masters through a deadly military operation in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

“The operation is a make or break moment for the Palestinian Authority,” one unnamed Palestinian official told Barak Ravid, an Israeli media figure with close ties to US and Israeli intelligence.

The deadly PA military operation in Jenin and its refugee camp, which is nearing a second week, is targeted at armed Palestinian resistance in the area which emerged to counter Israeli encroachment and land grabs.

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas launched the operation “to send a message to the incoming [Donald] Trump administration that the Palestinian Authority is a reliable partner,” Ravid wrote for Axios.

The PA’s “actions seem to be driven by its desire to offer a ‘valuable gift’ to the incoming US administration and win the favor of President-elect Donald Trump, by suggesting that its military operation in Jenin is capable of ‘cutting off the head of the resistance,’” one analysis piece in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar read.

Whether the PA can be successful in actually making a dent in resistance capabilities or the will to carry on is a different story.

There is buzz in Israeli media about the fragility of the Palestinian Authority, with concerns that some members within its ranks may shift their loyalties. This is why the PA is attempting to demonstrate its capabilities in suppressing armed resistance in areas where Israel grants it nominal control.

Asked for more weapons

The PA is employing Israel-like tactics to achieve this.

Since the military operation began, PA forces have occupied the Jenin government hospital, cut off electricity and water to the camp, shot and killed two youths in addition to a member of the armed resistance, creating a state of fear and uncertainty in the camp.

Schools have been closed in the area, with students shifted to virtual learning. Jenin residents have observed a camp-wide strike for the fourth day in a row to protest the PA’s incursion.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has been forced to suspend its operations in the area.

“Children remain out of school and camp residents are unable to access primary healthcare and other critical services,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said on Tuesday.

“For far too long, residents of Jenin and Jenin camp have been subject to a cycle of violence and destruction, rendering the camp nearly uninhabitable,” Lazzarini added, failing to mention that it was the Israeli military that subjected Jenin to widespread destruction and accelerated violence since Israel launched its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023.

In September this year, Israel reportedly destroyed the vast majority of Jenin’s streets during a lethal multi-day raid of the city and its camp.

The PA operation is being carried out with full coordination with Israel, Hebrew media has reported. PA security chiefs even met with Michael R. Fenzel, a US lieutenant general who oversees so-called security ties between Israel and the Palestinians, ahead of the operation to go over planning details.

The PA officials handed Fenzel a detailed list of weaponry needed to intensify their offensive against Palestinians, Axios reported.

The US is now asking Israel to authorize the transfer of weapons to the PA, ensuring it can continue carrying out Israel’s dirty work.

Officials from the Joe Biden administration, including the US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, requested that Israel approve “the urgent delivery of ammunition, helmets, bulletproof vests, radios, night vision equipment, explosive disposal suits and armored cars.”

Incoherent propaganda

Palestinian and US officials told Barak Ravid the operation was also launched “to try to prevent what happened in Syria from happening in the West Bank.”

One Palestinian official said that this was the “Syria effect. Abbas and his team were concerned that what happened in Aleppo and Damascus will inspire Palestinian Islamist group[s].”

This is, of course, incoherent with the Palestinian Authority’s other propaganda, which portrays armed Palestinian groups in the camps as part of an “Iranian-funded takeover,” as the unnamed Palestinian official told Ravid.

“The gunmen in Jenin are not resistance fighters, but mercenaries serving the dubious agenda of an outside party,” Anwar Rajab, the spokesperson of the PA “security” forces, said.

Rajab likened activities by the groups to “ISIS-style efforts,” highlighting this incoherence.

In reality, the resistance in the West Bank has existed as long as Israel’s military occupation has, and is a direct reaction to it. It is not motivated by external support.

This is a reality the PA understands and is undermined by, which is why the collaborationist body is willing to do everything in its power to prove its worth to its Israeli masters.