‘Israel’ is alarmed by an “unusual incident” in which an explosive charge was detonated next to the Megiddo junction on a road near the West Bank seamline facing Jenin on Monday.
The incident, which injured a person seriously, was likely a roadside bomb of the type detonated in the past, mainly against Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon during occupation before 2000, Haaretz Israeli daily reported on Tuesday.
Scene of a bomb blast at Megiddo junction in pccupied Palestine (Monday, March 13, 2023).
“The Shin Bet and IDF have been concerned for several months about increased attempts by terrorists in the West Bank to prepare explosive charges,” the paper’s Amos Harel said, referring to Israeli occupation forces.
Palestinian “Lone Wolves”
Meanwhile on Tuesday, a group named “Galilee Forces – Lone Wolves”, claimed responsibility for Megiddo junction attack, vowing to stage more attacks against Israeli occupation forces.
“One of our wolves planted a roadside bomb at Megiddo junction. The bomb went off and the wolves were unhurt after withdrawing the area,” the group said in a statement.
It also released a video showing Israeli outposts that the group intends to target soon. “Target is monitored and the weapon is ready,” the Galilee Forces – Lone Wolves group said in the video.
Rise in Explosive Charges
Harel reported that there has been, recently, a rise in the level of explosive charges being made and the number of Palestinian operations, noting that such upsurge comes after the situation was relatively calm in the occupied territories following the Second Intifada.
Since the Second Intifada, there’s been almost no sophisticated know-how in the West Bank on the preparation of explosive charges, the report said, listing a series of attacks which took place in the last three months.
There is concern in the Zionist entity that Palestinian attacks in the West Bank will soon rise, Harel reported, citing a clear increase of attacks for close to a year.
“But intelligence agencies are concerned about another escalation ahead of Ramadan, which begins in about a week,” the Israeli journalist said.
Resistance Warns
In this context, Palestinian resistance threatened the Israeli occupation that changing the status quo of Al-Aqsa Mosque will trigger an “earthquake” in the entire region.
Marwan Issa, Deputy Chief of Staff of Hamas’ Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said that “allowing the resistance in the West Bank to take action, doesn’t mean that the resistance fighters in Gaza won’t patronize their brothers in the occupied territories.”
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has been accumulating power in order to reach the full liberation of Palestine, Issa stated.
“Spiderweb Theory”
On the other hand, Haaretz’ Harel correlated between rising motivation for Palestinian attacks and what he described as the Zionist entity’s “unprecedented political and constitutional crisis” represented by the mass protests over judicial overhaul planned by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He cited recent remarks by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah about the Zionist entity’s collapse.
“Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah recently delivered two speeches in which he repeated his “spiderweb theory” regarding Israeli society’s weakness, which he initially presented after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Now he’s forecasting that an internal schism in Israel will lead to the country’s collapse, meaning that Israelis won’t be celebrating the country’s 80th anniversary in five years,” the Israeli journalist wrote in his Tuesday’s article.
In his latest speech last week, Sayyed Nasrallah described Israeli protests as historic and significant, noting that Israeli officials are now concerned about what he called the “third ravage” of the Zionist entity.
“Nasrallah is Not Completely Wrong”
In his article, Harel said that one of the worries occupying the Israeli “security system currently is that Nasrallah is not completely wrong.”
“Not only is the judicial controversy tearing Israelis into two camps, the rage against the regime coup led by the Netanyahu government is harming the military’s cohesion and may, in the long run, compromise its operational fitness. The biggest concern was raised in recent weeks by the Air Force, against a backdrop of growing protest by reserve pilots and navigators, the tumultuous discussions within squadrons and petitions in which hundreds of reserve pilots threatened to stop volunteering to fly should the extremist legislation pass in the Knesset,” Harel wrote.
– Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews to Palestine Chronicles. His interest in this topic stems originally from an environmental perspective, which encompasses the militarization and economic subjugation of the global community and its commodification by corporate governance and by the American government.
(Imagining Palestine – Cultures of Exile and National Identity. Tahrir Hamdi. I. B. Taurus, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, 2023.)
In her recent work, “Imagining Palestine”, Tahrir Hamdi has made an intriguing, thought-provoking, and challenging discussion on the idea and reality of Palestine. Imagining Palestine is the ongoing process of remembering and living the ongoing tragedies of the nakba – and keeping alive the culture, geography, and ideals of the Palestinian people. There are two main themes that stand out throughout the ‘imagining’ process: the ideas of exile and the necessity of violent resistance.
Exile
Throughout the discussions of the various Palestinian writers and artists is the recurring theme of exile. Two other terms are used frequently – dispossession and of dispersion. This refers to the physical/geographical displacement of the refugees, internal and external, in the many refugee camps in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan as well as the refugees living farther abroad in many countries around the world. Internal exile includes the many apartheid bantustans, the hundreds of checkpoints, the ‘wall’, and all other Israeli initiatives to limit travel of any kind – medical or agricultural or family – within occupied Palestine (being the whole).
Exile also includes the culture and ideas creating a Palestinian narrative – the attempt by the colonial settler Zionists to eliminate the elements of Palestinian life ranging from the destruction of libraries, and the expropriation of agriculture, to the destruction of the olive trees. Many of the latter are over one thousand years old and represent family, the past, and the future; they highlight both ecological and cultural violence against the Palestinians – a bitter leaf with life-giving properties.
Behind the idea of exile is of course the right of return,
The United Nations General Assembly adopts Resolution 194 (III), resolving that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
The symbols of Palestinians’ right of return are characterized by the deeds to land and the keys to houses stolen or destroyed by the Israeli military during the 1948 nakba. Until all Palestinians are free to return home, those few that do, as discussed by Tahrir, are not truly returnees, but remain in exile within their homeland.
Violent Resistance
As recognized by the writers reviewed in Imagining Palestine, the idea of resistance is paramount, “the colonized must liberate themselves by ‘use of all means, and that of force first and foremost.’”. International law allows for an occupied people/territory to legally resist the occupying/colonizing power. For those imagining Palestine, culture comes first then the resistance struggle – signifying a unity of purpose, an inclusiveness and not a mixture of individualized ideals.
In other words, by dividing the Palestinian people into apartheid regions, into different ‘terrorist’ organizations, into different levels of control superseded by the Palestinian Authority acting as security police for Israel, the Israelis – and factions within Palestine itself – preclude an organizing, organic whole necessary for successful resistance against an occupying force. A “collective national identity” is necessary first before a resistance can be successfully implemented.
As expressed by Tahrir,
“The living heritage of Palestine has been focussed and repurposed for the aim of creating a culture of resistance. To imagine Palestine does not mean to contrive something that was not there, but rather to make possible the very idea of resistance, victory, and liberation…an enabling idea.”
Subthemes
Several other themes occur through Tahrir’s analysis of those Imagining Palestine.
The complicity of Arab regimes is reiterated frequently and although not dwelt upon, it is recognition that the ‘regime’, the leaders of the Arab countries, are more concerned about their own survival than the problems faced by the Palestinians. Platitudes are made, peace treaties are made, official recognition of Israel is given, and still, the Palestinians are ignored. Except….
Except as shown by the recent Football World Cup in Qatar (after the publication of this book), the Arab street is still very much aligned with the Palestinians regardless of their separate governments’ attitudes and actions. Farther abroad from Ireland and Scotland to Argentina and others, solidarity with Palestine is strong at the level of international football – not the organizers, but the fans and the players.
Another subtheme, related to all above, is the vast amount of US support for the Israeli government as well as the influence the US carries over many of the Arab states. Capitalism thrives in this environment: three companies “and others thrive on the ‘always war’ policy of the world capitalist system, which gave birth to slavery and the colonialist enterprise.” A strong (im)moral component enters into this support as well with the combination of the evangelical right wishing for the end times and the antiterrorist rhetoric used mainly to reinforce US attempts at global hegemony (via military support for the US $).
Indigenous rights is another subtheme mentioned throughout the book. In particular, the rights of Indigenous North Americans and South Africans are used in comparison to their similarities to the colonial settler regime in Israel. African Americans, while not ‘colonized’ in the strictest sense, are a product of the capitalist-colonial mindset where the ‘other’ is, at best, property to be bought and sold, and when not useful, to be eliminated in one fashion or another.
Resistance
The recreation and remembering of Palestinian culture in all its forms, and the bringing together of a collective national identity, a living heritage creates an imagined future Palestine as a unitary democratic and peaceful society. The will to resist is alive in many forms and an Imagined Palestine exists, anticipating its liberation as a free, independent country.
A senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has denounced the fatal shooting of a Palestinian high-school student during a raid by “Israeli” Occupation Forces [IOF] troops on the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin, terming repeated “Israeli” assaults as a futile attempt to stop Palestinian resistance.
Ahmed al-Modallal said on Monday evening that the IOF’s and settlers’ recurrent assaults and acts of aggression across the occupied West Bank will never manage to discourage Palestinians from treading the path of resistance.
“Ever since the martyrdom of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, Jenin has been the scene of Palestinians’ resistance and struggles [against ‘Israel’]. The Jenin Brigades is now brandishing the flag of resilience and has evolved from a group to a popular revolutionary movement,” Modallal said.
The high-ranking Islamic Jihad leader emphasized that the “Israeli” entity is now facing frequent crises due to resistance operations and Jenin has turned into a nightmare for the regime.
“In light of the possibility of the formation of a far-right ‘Israeli’ cabinet, we [resistance forces] are preparing for a fierce battle and confrontation. The resistance front is constantly developing its weapons and beefing up its military might,” Modallal noted.
He stated that resistance fighters are strong-minded to continue their struggle against the occupying “Israeli” regime and expand their combat capabilities.
“The resistance front has all options on the table to deal with the ‘Israeli’ enemy. It will never retreat from its path to defend the Palestinian land, nation and their sanctities,” Modallal said.
The Palestinian Authority’s [PA] Ministry of Health said Mahmoud al-Saadi, 18, was killed by the IOF on Monday in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin. He was shot in the stomach.
At least four other Palestinians were wounded after being shot, according to the ministry and local journalists.
The PA’s Ministry of Education mourned Saadi in a statement. It said he was a student at the Farhat Hashad Boys Secondary School in Jenin and that he had been killed on his way to school.
The IOF troops have recently been conducting overnight raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.
Since the start of 2022, the IOF have killed at least 199 Palestinians, including 47 children, in the West Bank, occupied East al-Quds [Jerusalem] and the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinians killed by the apartheid “Israeli” entity in the occupied West Bank this year is the highest it has been in 16 years.
Local and international rights groups have condemned the entity’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.
While the Arab Summit in Algeria affirmed its adherence to the so-called ‘Arab Peace Initiative’ as a final solution to the Palestinian issue, Israel’s response came quickly and resolutely with the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu and the anti-Arab religious Likud bloc.
In the 1 November legislative elections, Israelis voted in large numbers for the anti-Arab, racist, religious parties, which openly embrace a policy of killing and expelling Palestinians from all of occupied Palestine, and promote a solely Jewish-Zionist identity of the country.
The “Jewish Power” party, which won 15 seats, and is led by the two most racist figures in the short history of the Jewish state, Bezael H. Cherish and his deputy Itamar Ben Gvir, will be the backbone of Netanyahu’s coalition government.
The leader of this party, which will be the most prominent partner of the Arab monarchs who signed peace agreements with Israel, has called for killing Arabs, expelling them and wrapping the bodies of the martyrs in pigskin “in honor” of them.
Normalization the new norm
Nonetheless, it is likely that red carpets will be laid out for Ben Gvir and Netanyahu in Arab capitals, where they will enjoy Arab hospitality and drink from their gilded goblets. Indeed, there is no difference between the winning Israeli coalition and the defeated one (Lapid-Gantz).
Both converge on their mutual hostility and hatred of Arabs and Muslims. General Benny Gantz, the Israeli Minister of Defense in the previous government, used to boast that he was the Israeli who killed the largest number of Arabs – and this is true, as his government has killed 166 Palestinians since the beginning of this year.
There is a silver lining, however: This racist government will hasten Israel’s demise and lead to its inevitable end, not at the hands of the battered Arab armies, but at the hands of the Palestinian resistance and their regional allies, their missiles and drones.
There are three steps that the Netanyahu government and his extremist coalition may take upon assuming power:
First, a return to reviving the Trump-era ‘Deal of the Century,’ the annexation of the West Bank, and the deportation of most of its Palestinian residents to Jordan as an “alternative homeland.”
Second, the escalation of incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the consolidation of Jewish control over East Jerusalem, and the obliteration of its Arab and Islamic identity. The first step may be dividing it on the model of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, then demolishing it, and erecting the alleged “temple” on its ruins.
Third, the canceling or freezing of the maritime border demarcation agreement with Lebanon, similar to what happened to the Oslo Accords with Palestinians. Netanyahu announced his intent to do so openly in his election campaign.
This option appears especially likely given that extraction of gas and oil from the Karish field has already begun, while the Qana field, which was “partially” recognized as Lebanese, remains untouched, with no surveys or exploration conducted until this moment.
It is likely that the Lebanese gas fields will lay dormant for the foreseeable future. The same US mediators did not guarantee the implementation of even 1 per cent of the Oslo Accords, and they will most likely not guarantee the rights of the Lebanese people.
Renewed Palestinian armed resistance
But Netanyahu is set to assume control over a very different state of affairs, both domestically and internationally. For starters, Israel is facing an escalating internal conflict, and most importantly, a revived intifada in the form of West Bank armed resistance.
We cannot talk about West Bank resistance without discussing the phenomenon of The Lions’ Den whose political and military influence is expanding, while the Palestinian public’s embrace of the movement is growing. Not a day passes without witnessing a commando operation in various parts of the West Bank; in Nablus, Jenin and Hebron – later in Ramallah, and then in the pre-1948 occupied Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu may succeed in including one or two more Arab governments in the Abraham Accords, which was signed under his last premiership. However, such political acrobatics will have no value in light of the “awakening” of the Palestinian people and their return to armed resistance.
The returning Netanyahu will not forget the May 2021 battle of the “Sword of Jerusalem” that humiliated him, and its missiles that isolated the occupying state for more than 11 days, forcing millions of Israeli settler-colonizers into shelters and bunkers.
These missiles are still present and ready, along with hundreds of armed drones. Perhaps it is also worth reminding the incoming Israeli Prime Minister of how he ended an electoral meeting in the city of Ashdod (my ancestors’ hometown) and fled in terror from the 400 missiles launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in retaliation for the assassination of its leader, Baha Abu al-Atta.
Just another day in the office?
The “Israel” to which Netanyahu returns is not the same Israel he left, and the world he knew when he was last in power, is not the same world today. His US supporter is mired in an unprecedented proxy war of attrition with Russia in Ukraine, where his co-religionist, Volodymyr Zelensky, has so far lost about a fifth of his country’s territory, and has plunged it into darkness and despair.
While Netanyahu is viewed as as being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that friendship had deepened before the Ukraine war. The situation has now changed dramatically, and he will be forced to choose between Washington and Moscow in an era of multipolarity.
As for the Lions’ Den, they have effectively changed all the equations and rules of engagement in occupied Palestine – and perhaps in the Arab world as well – and within this context will actually “welcome” the hardliner Netanyahu’s return to power.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
Following Tuesday’s Israeli Knesset elections, counting 97% of the votes showed on Wednesday that the Right-wing coalition, led by the former premier Benjamin Netanyahu secured a governing majority of 65 seats.
Consequently, Netanyahu will form the new government as the four previous election sessions failed to give a clear majority for any of the political alliances in the Zionist entity.
Although the margins were tight, the right-wing occupation leader was leading early on in the fifth election in less than four years,.
Netanyahu’s Likud will likely take over the 120-seat Knesset with 30 or 31 seats to spare, knowing that the right-wing coalition continued till the last moment before closing the polling centers provoking the settlers to participate in the elections.
Israeli candidate and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu
The initial projections indicated that this number, along with anticipated totals for the two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and the extreme-right “Religious Zionism alliance,” gave the coalition supporting Netanyahu between 61 and 62 seats.
Caretaker PM Yair Lapid’s party was on track to finish in second place as expected.
This comes after the Israeli occupation’s former PM seemed to be struggling to achieve a majority in the Knesset in light of the rising anti-Netanyahu rhetoric among his opponents.
The occupation’s opposition leader would come within a single seat of having a majority in the upcoming election, which is the fifth in less than four years.
If the election process does not give either side a majority, a deadlock would dominate the political scene within the occupation’s government while assigning incumbent Prime Minister Yair Lapid with the task of managing “Israel’s” affairs as caretaker Prime Minister.
A similar deadlock saw Netanyahu ousted from office back in 2021 after four votes that did not deliver on a parliamentary majority, resulting in former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s coalition taking over the Knesset.
Meanwhile, the Zionist circles highlighted the augmenting fears of the Palestinian operations during the elections which may reduce the turnout percentages, noting that the area of the attacks has expanded across the West Bank.
Israeli media reported that a car ramming attack on Maccabim Checkpoint left Tuesday a Zionist officer injured and Palestinian perpetrator martyred.
The Zionist enemy, thus, cordoned off the occupied West Bank in anticipation of Palestinian attacks as the Zionist circles noted that individual attackers, who are not affiliated with certain factions, are hardening the mission of the Israeli security measures.
Arab affairs expert Zvi Yehezkeli said that some of the attackers are Palestinian policemen, which makes it harder for the Zionist occupation forces to prevent the attacks.
Arab affairs expert Zvi Yehezkeli
The Israeli circles also voiced fears of missile attacks from Gaza on the settlements, which may affect the election process.
The fifth Israeli elections in 4 years amid political confusion and internal crises
Damascus | The Balfour Declaration and the beginning of the Zionist colonization of Palestine in a symposium of the Committee to Support the Palestinian People
Hamas Spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou underlined that the Palestinian resistance movement doesn’t count on the ‘Israeli’ elections results, mentioning the internal partition within the Zionist entity.
In an interview with Al-Ahed News, al-Qanou noted that “all ‘Israeli’ parties are hostile to the Palestinian people.”
The Hamas spokesman further added that the ‘Israeli’ elections can’t legalize the occupation, as the Zionist entity with all its social, political, and security components will always be an “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
Concluding his interview, al-Qanou highlighted the right of the Palestinian people and the resistance against the Zionist occupation with all its resulting extremist governments that practice killing of the Palestinian people.
In the course of starting the electoral process, Zionist officials imposed a general closure on all Palestinian territories on Tuesday in conjunction with the beginning of the voting.
The Zionist occupation army stated that the closure will take into effect on Monday at midnight. The crossings are to be opened and closure lifted before Tuesday midnight after assessing the situation.
In the West Bank, permits held by Palestinian workers to work inside the occupied territories will be frozen, in addition to freezing some crossing and closing numerous streets where Zionist settlements are located.
It’s noteworthy that the ‘Israeli’ elections scheduled for Tuesday are the fifth elections to be held in the Zionist entity over that past four years.
رام الله | دخلت الخليل وأريحا، على مسافة أيّام قليلة من انتخابات «الكنيست»، على خطّ الاشتباك، لتُبدِّد «نشوة النصر» الإسرائيلية في نابلس وجنين، ومعها جميع إجراءات الطوارئ الأمنية التي تتعزّز تباعاً خشيةَ تنفيذ عمليات فدائية. عمليات أقرّ وزير أمن العدو، بيني غانتس، أنه لن يكون في المستطاع «منْعها كلّها»، متحدّثاً عن «أثمان مؤلمة وصعبة… وتحدّيات كبيرة». وتُنذر عمليتا الخليل وأريحا بتداعيات سيتحدَّد حجمها في الأيام المقبلة، مع تمدُّد حالة الاشتباك من شمال الضفة إلى جنوبها، ما يضع المنطقة بأكملها – وذلك سيناريو الرعب الإسرائيلي – في حالة مقاومة لن يكون من الممكن تحجيمها
في ذروة الاستنفار الإسرائيلي في الضفة الغربية المحتلّة، جاءت عملية «كريات أربع» التي نفّذها الشهيد محمد الجعبري، لتهدِم نشوة المنظومة الأمنية والاستخباراتية للعدو، والتي يعيشها الاحتلال منذ ارتكب جرائمه الأخيرة في نابلس وجنين؛ كما جاءت لتُبدِّد جميع الإجراءات التي اتّخذتها المؤسستَان العسكرية والأمنية مع اقتراب انتخابات «الكنيست»، خشيةَ تنفيذ عمليات فدائية. وتُنذر عملية الخليل التي تحمل في طيّاتها دلالات عسكرية وجغرافية غاية في الأهميّة، بتداعيات سيتحدَّد حجمها في الأيّام المقبلة. وإلى مقتل مستوطن وإصابة آخرين، فإن تداعياتها تبدو أكثر خطورة، مع تحرُّك مدينة الخليل بعد أشهر من حالة الهدوء النسبي الذي عاشته المحافظة، والذي من شأنه – إذا قُدِّر له أن يستمرّ ويتّسع – أن يقلب الأوضاع في الضفة رأساً على عقب، ولا سيما أن العملية استُتبعت بإطلاق نار آخر تجاه جنود الاحتلال قرب بلدة بني نعيم.
وسارع رئيس حكومة العدو، يائير لابيد، إلى تقييم الوضع الأمني في أعقاب العملية، آمراً بتعزيز القوات الأمنية في المنطقة، على أن تستمرّ حالة التأهُّب في مختلف الساحات، فيما قامت قوات الاحتلال بإغلاق جميع الطرق والمداخل المؤدية إلى مدينة الخليل، ومنعت الدخول إليها أو الخروج منها. وإلى ذلك، اقتحمت منزل الجعبري، وأخذت قياساته تمهيداً لهدمه، كما اعتقلت شقيق الشهيد. من جهته، اعترف وزير الأمن، بيني غانتس، أنه «ليس في الإمكان منْع كلّ العمليات المسلّحة»، مضيفاً: «في الإمكان دائماً حدوث عمليات. والأثمان مؤلمة وصعبة، لكن الوضع معقَّد. وهناك تحدّيات كبيرة، واسعة وطويلة، وصمدنا أمام هذه التحديات في الماضي، وسنصمد أمامها الآن». وفي الإطار نفسه، ذكرت إذاعة جيش الاحتلال أنه سيتمّ نشْر سريتَين من «حرس الحدود» في الساعات المقبلة، لتعزيز منطقة الخليل، كما يدرس الجيش تعزيزات إضافية ستصل إلى المنطقة خلال الأيام القليلة المقبلة. يُعدّ الجعبري، منفّذ العملية، أحد عناصر حركة «حماس» في الخليل، وهو شقيق الأسير المحرّر والمبعد إلى قطاع غزة، وائل الجعبري، وقد تمكّن من تنفيذ عمليّته بعدما نجح في الوصول إلى مستوطنة «كريات أربع»، كبرى مستوطنات الضفة، حيث استهدَف مستوطنين عند مدخل أحد أحيائها ببندقية «M16»، ما أسفر عن إصابة مستوطن ونجله، فيما أصيب الآخرون خلال محاولتهم مساعدتهما، ومن بينهم أحد قادة المستوطنين، عوفر أوهانا. وذكرت مصادر عبرية أن السلاح المستخدَم في العملية تم الاستيلاء عليه مع كمية أسلحة أخرى، قبل أشهر، من إحدى قواعد جيش الاحتلال في النقب.
ستعطي الخليل حالة المقاومة المتصاعدة في الضفة زخماً وقوّة هائلَيْن، بفعل خصوصيّتها
وبتنفيذها هذه العملية، أثبتت المقاومة قدرتها على مفاجأة العدو بضربات قويّة، وكسْر الوهم الأمني الذي يحاول ادّعاء تجسيده على الأرض، خاصّة أنها جاءت بعد أيّام من معركة شرسة خاضتها مجموعة «عرين الأسود» في مدينة نابلس، واستشهد خلالها قائدها وديع الحوح. وبهذا، تكون العملية قد كسرت طَوْق الاحتواء والحصار المفروض على المقاومة في نابلس وجنين، وأبعدت خطر تفكيك وإنهاء «العرين» أو أيّ خليّة مسلّحة. كذلك، يمكن لعملية الخليل أن تمثّل شرارة إطلاق المارد في جنوب الضفة، وتحديداً الخليل، التي تُعدّ خزاناً بشريّاً وعسكريّاً هائلاً، إذ تتوفّر فيها الأسلحة بكثرة، وكذلك المستوطنون الذين سيتحوّلون إلى أهداف للمقاومين. كما يمكن أن تشكّل امتداداً لحالة المقاومة في شمال الضفة الغربية، كونها تُعدّ ضربة قويّة في الرأس، نظراً إلى البراعة في التنفيذ، والاحترافية في اختيار المكان والتوقيت. وتعيش منطقة شمال الضفة، وتحديداً مدينة نابلس، حالة حرب متواصلة وحصاراً إسرائيليّاً مطبِقاً، في ضوء استمرار العمل المقاوم، وعمليات إطلاق النار على الحواجز العسكرية، وفشل الاحتلال في إنهاء ظاهرة مجموعة «عرين الأسود»، التي من شأن عملية الخليل أن تخفّف الضغط عنها، إذا ما تداعت أحداثها وتطوّرت على الأرض. وستعطي الخليل حالة المقاومة المتصاعدة في الضفة زخماً وقوّة هائلَيْن، بفعل خصوصيّتها، التي تنبع أوّلاً من ضرب حالة الاستقرار والهدوء التي روّجها الاحتلال لمدينة الخليل كمثال للهدوء والاستقرار كونها المدينة الأكبر مساحة والأكثر تعداداً للسكان، ودخولها على خط الاشتباك الذي سيمتدّ من جنين شمالاً إلى الخليل جنوباً، سيعني – إذا ما تحقَّق – استنزاف جيش الاحتلال وقواته. وقد جاءت العملية بعد نحو أسبوعين من بيان «العرين» الذي قالت فيه إنها تنتظر «خليل الرحمن وبيت لحم لتخطّا أوّل بيان للعرين بالدم والرصاص».
ويستهدف الاستيطان مدينة الخليل منذ اليوم الأوّل لاحتلالها، وهي تُعدّ من أكثر المناطق التي يرفض الاحتلال التنازل عنها أو تسليمها، وتحديداً بلدتها القديمة المجاورة لمستوطنة «كريات أربع». وهذا يعني أن العملية ستلقي بظلالها على ما تقدَّم، بعدما أفقدت العدو الشعور بالأمان، والذي سيتنامى إذا ما قُدّر لحالة المقاومة في المحافظة أن تنمو. وجاءت عملية الخليل في توقيت حسّاس وخطير عاشه الفلسطينيون في الأيام الأخيرة، في ظلّ محاولة الاحتلال كسْر مجموعة «العرين» بعد اغتيال قائدها في نابلس، وتكثيف بثّ الأخبار حول تسليم خمسة عناصر من المجموعة أنفسهم للسلطة، في محاولة لضرب الروح المعنوية للبيئة الشعبية الحاضنة، وللجمهور، وتشويه مقاتلي «العرين». لكنّ تلك المحاولات تبدَّدت مساء الجمعة، حين خرجت مسيرة شعبية عارمة وسط نابلس لدعم المجموعة وإسنادها، شارك فيها قادة «العرين»، محمولين على الأكتاف، في مشهد بدّد رواية الاحتلال، الذي عاد، بحسب وسائل إعلام عبرية ومن خلال «الشاباك»، لبعث رسائل تهديد إلى مجموعة من قيادة «العرين»، بتصفية أفرادها في الوقت القريب. وذكر موقع عبري، في هذا الإطار، أن التهديدات وصلت إلى القائد في «العرين»، أسامة الطويل، الذي يَعتبره الاحتلال أحد عناصر «كتائب القسام»، إضافة إلى محمد طبنجة، أحد قادة «الجبهة الشعبية» في «العرين»، وحسام إسليم أحد عناصر الذراع العسكرية لـ«حماس». ولا يمكن إغفال الأثر الذي ستتركه العملية على الساحة الداخلية الإسرائيلية، التي تشهد انتخابات مستعرة بعد أيّام قليلة؛ ففيما حاول المتطرّف إيتمار بن غفير استجلاب دعْم المستوطنين له بادّعاء تعرُّض منزله وعائلته لإطلاق نار في العملية – وهو ما نفته المصادر الأمنية لاحقاً -، إلّا أن من شأنها أن تترك أثراً على بيني غانتس ويائير لابيد اللذين يسعيان إلى الإبقاء على حظوظهما في الانتخابات من خلال الدم الفلسطيني في نابلس، لكن عملية الخليل يمكن أن تطيحهما أيضاً.
وبعد ثمانية أشهر على إطلاقها عملية «كاسر الأمواج» للقضاء على المقاومة في مدينة جنين، عقب عمليتَي رعد خازم وضياء حمارشة، تجد إسرائيل نفسها أمام تسونامي من العمل المقاوم؛ فبينما هي فشلت في القضاء على المقاومة في جنين، فإنها انتقلت إلى مدينة نابلس التي شهدت ولادة «عرين الأسود»، فيما تثبت العملية الأخيرة أن الأمواج وصلت إلى جنوب الضفة الغربية، ما يعني أن الأخيرة باتت مرشّحة لموجة عمليات واسعة في الفترة المقبلة. وتعيش دولة الاحتلال حالة استنفار عالية، إذ جاءت العملية لتثبت مرّة أخرى أنها أوهن من بيت العنكبوت، وفق سيناريو إذا ما تحقَّق فإنه سيشكّل أسوأ الكوابيس التي كانت إسرائيل تخشاها، وهو امتداد حالة المقاومة والاشتباك في عموم الضفة الغربية.
A Jewish settler was killed and five others wounded in a shooting attack on the illegal Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied Palestinian city of Al Khalil, Hebron, Israeli media reported late Saturday.
Israeli sources also claimed that the attacker was killed by Israeli occupation forces in the area.
The shooting operation on Israeli MK Itamar Ben-Gvir's house in the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba.
According to reports, it seems that the attack on the settlement was not random, targeting instead the house of extremist Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Ben-Gvir is known for his violent rhetoric and incitement against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank.
News about the targeting of Ben-Gvir’s house, however, remains contested in Israeli media. While Israeli Channel 7 confirmed that Ben-Gvir’s house was the target, other Israeli sources claimed that the attacker targeted an Israeli military checkpoint.
Palestinian news agency Quds News Network said that the attacker was a Palestinian young man by the name of Mohammad Kamal Jabari.
RT Arabic website also said that a Palestinian paramedic was shot while trying to respond to an emergency call of a Palestinian wounded near the Kiryat Arba settlement. The paramedic is currently being treated at the al-Ahli hospital.
Moreover, Israeli media said that one of the settlers is in a critical condition.
The Israeli occupation forces unexpectedly stormed on Tuesday the West Bank city of Nablus in occupied Palestine, waging a round of unprecedented aggression in recent years.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that the Israeli occupation forces killed 5 Palestinians and wounded 20 others, three of whom were in critical condition, with the occupation forces preventing ambulances and medical staff from reaching the scene.
Palestinian media outlets reported that the Palestinian security forces “discovered a special force of the Israeli occupation army while trying to storm the city, resulting in an armed confrontation.”
The Palestinian media stressed that residents and security forces were able to thwart the infiltration attempt of the Israeli special force into the old city of Nablus and wounded some of its members, which prompted the occupation army to launch a rapid and concentrated attack with heavy gunfire.
Israeli occupation forces killed 5 Palestinians, injured 20 others during raid in occupied West Bank city of Nablus. pic.twitter.com/OQGj65ngQG
According to Palestinian Shehab news agency, the fourth Palestinian killed during the Nablus raid was one of the leaders of the Lions’ Den resistance group, identified as Wadih al-Houh, who succumbed to his wounds sustained during the attack by the occupation forces on the Old City of Nablus.
Moreover, the Israeli occupation claimed in a statement that a joint force of the IOF, the Shin Bet, and the special police unit raided a hideout apartment inside the Old City of Nablus allegedly used as a laboratory for the manufacturing of explosive devices for high profile activists in the Lion’s Den Palestinian resistance group.
عاجل| مصادر محلية: "اشتباك مسلح مع قوات الاحتلال قرب حاجز سالم غرب مدينة جنين". pic.twitter.com/yaI7ag5HKq
According to Wafa news agency, “sounds of shooting and explosions were heard and columns of smoke and flames were seen emanating from several neighborhoods” after IOF stormed the Old City of Nablus during early hours of Tuesday, searching for members of the Lions’ Den group.
Palestinian media also quoted local sources as saying that Israeli forces posted snipers on the roofs of houses and buildings overlooking the city center and the neighborhoods of the Old City, where they deliberately opened fire at members of the Palestinian security forces, wounding 4 of them.
The Israeli occupation’s Air Force reportedly conducted an airstrike that targeted a civilian vehicle in the occupied West Bank, as per Palestinian media outlets. The vehicle caught on fire, and Palestinians rushed to the scene in an attempt to save the passengers.
“The events in Nablus are systemic criminality and terrorism committed by the Zionist occupation’s forces,” Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Spokesperson Tariq Ezzeddine said.
“The brave freedom fighters of our people, the Al-Quds Brigades, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Ezzeddine Al-Qassam Brigades, and the Lions’ Den will not allow the occupation to violate our cities,” Ezzeddine added.
The PIJ Spokesperson also called on the Palestinian people to take to the streets and confront the Israeli occupation “to prove that we are one people and one resistance.”
The bravery and defiance of Ibrahim Nablusi, immortalized him as a heroic martyr and saw tens of thousands pack the streets of Nablus city, where the resistance fighter was killed, in order to attend his funeral.
There have been at least 11 large-scale Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, four wars, and hundreds of attacks against the territory, resulting in the untold misery of the Gazan civilian population
The ongoing Palestinian uprising, along with the revival of the armed struggle inside the occupied West Bank, has largely been characterised by its tendencies as a popular movement, namely that there has been a chaotic reaction from the occupier. The past months’ developments have been an indicator of a major shift from the initial stages of the uprising and it’s time to take note.
The Palestinian armed uprising, inside the West Bank, can largely be traced back to the 11-day war that broke out in May, 2021, between the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the Israeli military. Following this, although the armed fighters had been previously active, in September of 2021 when the ‘Jenin Brigades’ were officially formed and the action they began to take shook “Israel” to its core. 2022 has been a more violent year for the West Bank, than the besieged Gaza Strip, with the majority of Palestinians killed by the occupation forces this year being inside the West Bank, with nearly 170 dead so far.
The scenes of armed resistance attacks, which occur multiple times per day at this time, against Israeli forces and settlers, have brought back the tactics and brutality of the Zionist regime never witnessed inside the West Bank since the Second Intifada (2000-2007). Although the initial attacks that came from groups such as the Jenin brigades, the Tulkarem brigades, and the Nablus brigades, seemed to have been loosely organized and worked primarily to inspire later action, along with shaking up the Israeli “security system”, this seems to be no longer the case. What has marked a seismic shift in the conflict between the occupier and the resistance inside the West Bank, has been the introduction of the Areen al-Oussoud, or Lions’ Den group, that declared themselves out of the old city of Nablus on September 2nd.
The Gaza based resistance movement
Since the armed resistance in the West Bank was either destroyed or disbanded in the early 2000’s by the Israeli military and Palestinian Authority (PA), the armed struggle has been isolated into the hands of the movements operating out of the Gaza Strip. For a long time, there has been a successfully implemented strategy, by the Israelis and Americans, to isolate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, during this time the resistance in Gaza – headed by Hamas primarily – had taken over the path of armed struggle.
There have been at least 11 large-scale Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip, four wars, and hundreds of attacks against the territory, resulting in the untold misery of the Gazan civilian population. Since the imposition of the siege, by not only “Israel” and Egypt but more importantly by the collective Western governments, the strategy has been to pressure the Palestinian people who live inside the territory to overthrow Hamas as their democratically elected government. This strategy, implemented since the 2006 – not 2007 when the siege was tightened significantly and is often framed as having started – the sanctions against Gaza have failed to bring the resistance to its knees and this is owed to the resounding resilience of the Palestinian people.
For most of the history of the Hamas rule of Gaza, it had been “Israel” that had taken most of the initiative to strike first and to be on the offensive. It has been noted by many analysts and historians, that despite the bravery and constant innovations of the resistance, “they had largely proven ineffective at inflicting significant defeats upon the enemy”. The strategic thinking of the resistance began to undergo significant shifts, however, dating back to 2015, but truly showing steadiness from 2017, during the major dispute between Qatar and many of the Gulf States, in addition to other pro-Western reactionary Arab regimes.
In 2018, during the Great March of Return, the armed resistance movements – which had not been constantly fighting each other but had also not participated in a real unified command – decided to form the ‘Joint Operations Room’ of the Palestinian resistance. Although during most of 2018, the Israeli military would routinely attack the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and was constantly on the offensive, this would change by November of that same year.
Israeli agents had infiltrated the Gaza Strip in 2018, plotting to either assassinate or kidnap a commander in the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam brigades, named Nur Baraka. The Israeli agents were discovered and fled, one of them was shot dead in the process, whilst Israeli drone strikes were launched against the Gaza Strip. What ensued was a complete embarrassment for the Israeli political establishment, not only was the Israeli raid a complete failure, but the resistance showed a new unified strategy that we had not seen the likes of before. “Israel’s” then-minister of war, Avigdor Liberman, was so embarrassed that he resigned from his position. 300 rockets were fired at “Israel”, whilst the resistance fired anti-tank munitions that killed Israeli soldiers. A video was also released by the Sala al-Din brigades, which showed that at least 5 Israeli soldiers had been killed or mortally wounded in an explosive attack, an event that had happened in February but was covered up by the Israelis. The armed movement had laced Palestinian flagpoles with explosives, waited for Israeli soldiers to pull them down, and then detonated the devices.
Then, in early May 2019, the armed resistance movements in Gaza chose to strategically escalate tensions and open up a limited battle with the Israeli military, around 2 weeks prior to “Tel Aviv’s” hosting of the Eurovision song contest. In November 2019, “Israel” attempted to gain back some of its strategic initiatives, by attempting to isolate and target the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in both Gaza and Syria. Despite assassinating leading figures in the PIJ movement, most prominently Baha Abu Al-Atta, the attack did little to change the course of the armed struggle.
Fast forward to May 2021, when the battle of Saif al-Quds was declared by the Israeli military, the people of Palestine had unified against the ongoing desecration of the Holy Sites in the old city of al-Quds. Saif al-Quds was when the Joint Room came to real prominence and it was clear that all the groups resisting Israel were unified, this provided inspiration to the rest of the Palestinian population in the other occupied Palestinian territories. Until this moment, despite “Israel’s” three-day attack against the PIJ movement, back in August, Tel Aviv has failed to achieve the equation it had before 2018. The Zionist regime went from attacking Gaza at will, constantly launching any strikes it wanted, to being deterred from striking Gaza unless it was willing to commit to an all-out war and now it is the resistance in Gaza that plots to strike first, of strategic initiative.
Lessons learnt and the evolution of the West Bank struggle
One of the major issues that caused the setback of August this year, which had caught the resistance by surprise, was a fault made in the rhetoric of the Gaza-based resistance. “Israel” exploited this weakness in order to inflict a psychological blow against the resistance as a whole, it was clear that the resistance had not prepared for the scenario that befell them and although they reacted in a very rational way, within their means, the Israelis managed to score a pyrrhic victory on the propaganda front. The problem was, not that the resistance had acted in the wrong manner, but had projected great strength and made threats that weren’t intended on being followed through with, in the way that many had interpreted them.
“Israel’s” attack on Gaza in August may have resulted in political points for Prime Minister Yair Lapid and a distraction from the maritime border dispute with Lebanon if only the regime did not get greedy. Days later, the Israeli military sent in special forces units to assassinate the 19-year-old resistance fighter, Ibrahim Nablusi, yet, his killing served the opposite of its intended purpose. The bravery and defiance of Ibrahim Nablusi, immortalized him as a heroic martyr and saw tens of thousands pack the streets of Nablus city, where the resistance fighter was killed, in order to attend his funeral. As his mother held a pride-filled smile, whilst carrying her son’s body, thousands chanted Ibrahim Nablusi’s name and all over the West Bank young resistance fighters pledged to avenge his martyrdom. Instead of beating down the spirits of the Palestinian people and their belief in the armed struggle, Israel strengthened the resistance.
The mistake in the rhetoric of the Gaza-based resistance has undoubtedly been addressed now also, shown clearly through the statement released last Friday by the Joint Operations Room. This joint statement marks a turning point in the course of the armed struggle, as they not only have shown growth in their strategic rhetoric, but also they were dressed in a very interesting way. It should be noted that the Joint Room, which comprises all the serious armed movements in the Gaza Strip, dressed in military uniform, keffiyeh and did not wear anything to distinguish the resistance faction. This is symbolically powerful, as simultaneously the Lions’ Den group in Nablus is also refraining from identifying themselves with any single political or military party/movement.
The armed groups that have been formed throughout the West Bank are made up of young people, mostly between the ages of 18 to 25, who come from many different political backgrounds and choose to work together as a unified force. The Lions’ Den group has also received a lot of popular support for its methods, managing to amass demonstrators that will take to the streets of Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and beyond in order to support the resistance group. Unlike unity agreements that have been signed on paper in the past, this unity agreement has manifested itself in the physical world between armed resistance factions. It is clear that the resistance in Gaza is always taking notes of the popular will of the Palestinian people, it is adapting to this and is learning from their past mistakes in order to implement a strategy to escalate the armed struggle against the occupier.
What is happening now with the development of the armed struggle; the unifying efforts of the younger generation and the resistance in Gaza, must be analyzed as part of this new chapter that has been opened in the history of the Palestinian struggle. This movement is becoming ever more unified, it is from the masses and in many ways is driven by the younger generation of Palestinians, it cannot be defeated by small Israeli military operations and soon this will escalate, paving the way to a completely new political landscape inside all of occupied Palestine.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
The Syrian presidency issued a statement following the meeting between President Bashar Al-Assad and the Palestinian factions today.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad hosting Palestinian delegation
The Syrian presidency announced that President Bashar Al-Assad received a delegation of leaders and representatives of the Palestinian forces and factions, and they discussed the outcomes of the reconciliation dialogues.
“Al-Assad considers the unity of the Palestinian ranks as the basis of the Palestinians’ strength in confronting the [Israeli] occupation and restoring rights, and that all attempts to eliminate the Palestinian cause in the Arab region and Palestine have not and will not succeed,” the Syrian presidency stated.
“What is happening now in all the Palestinian territories proves that the new generations are still clinging to the resistance,” and that “despite the war that Syria is witnessing, the country has not changed its stances supporting the resistance in any way,” Al-Assad stressed during his meeting with the Palestinian delegation.
“The Palestinian delegation members assured President Al-Assad that Syria is an essential pillar, the bonding element of the resistance, the resistance’s popular base throughout history, and it is the fortress that is resorted to in times of distress.”
Palestinian factions from Syria: Resistance only way to restore rights
In a statement following the meeting, the factions affirmed that Al-Assad stressed that the unity of the Palestinian ranks is the guarantee for restoring the rights of the Palestinian people.
The statement said the Syrian President reiterated Syria’s support for the Palestinian people in the face of Israeli aggression and stressed that resistance is the only way to liberate the land.
Hamas: Turning the page of the past moving forward in strengthening relations with Syria
On his part, the deputy leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, said the meeting with Al-Assad was warm, adding that the Syrian President expressed his determination to provide all support from Syria to the Palestinian people and their Resistance.
Al-Hayya indicated that Hamas is restoring its relationship with Syria with the unanimity of the movement’s leadership and the conviction of the correctness of this path.
The top Hamas official added that “we are ending any individual action that was not approved by the Hamas leadership, and we agreed with President Al-Assad to turn the page.”
It is noteworthy that the recent visit comes after non-public negotiations between Hamas and the Syrian leadership, mediated by Lebanese Hezbollah, which discussed the disagreements that led the movement to leave Damascus in 2012.
On September 15, Hamas announced in a statement that it would restore its relations with Syria, which “has been supporting the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance factions for decades.”
It has always been said that Palestine is our compass. It continues and will continue to be as such so long as it is under the Western-backed ‘Israeli’ occupation.
The ‘Israeli’ occupation forces launched and continue to implement a black propaganda against Palestine and the Palestinians depicting them as ‘terrorists,’ in which the Tel Aviv regime has tried every possible way to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
The ‘Israelis’ have tried wars, massacres, assassinations, building settlements, annexing lands and continuous siege… but all these systematic aggressions and measures did not break the Palestinian people’s will.
They continue to fight with complete resolve and full determination to liberate their occupied land.
One of the basic goals the ‘Israelis’ eyed is to sow the seeds of discord among the Palestinians, and they hope their plots and conspiracies would successfully materialize one day.
One of the Zionist goals is to separate the West Bank from the rest of Palestine and to establish a system of power or authority that would coordinate and serve the ‘Israeli’ entity. They pinned the hope that this will create a wedge within the Palestinian society.
After all those efforts, the ‘Israelis’ are experiencing a real nightmare in the occupied West Bank. The recent uprising [intifada] there is very promising. The daring operations carried out in the West Bank by a resistance group that named itself the ‘Lions’ Den] is putting the ‘Israeli’ regime’s military security along with that of its army into shame.
All the efforts by the different ‘Israeli’ military and security apparatuses were fruitless. Not to mention that all the ‘Israeli’ and western black propaganda and brainwash efforts to mislead the world public opinion about the nature of the Palestinian cause were in vain.
The new generation of the Palestinian youngsters who lived all their life in the occupied West Bank under the Palestinian Authority [PA] system came to realize deeply that all the ‘agreements’ with the ‘Israeli’ regime will not bring them any good. All the ‘security coordination’ between the PA the Zionists is solely serving the ‘Israeli’ interests.
This is the generation that has experienced everything already is revolting now in a new intifada that would put all the so-called ‘Israeli’ achievements in jeopardy.
The recent military operations carried by this group, namely the ‘Lions’ Den’, were extraordinarily courageous. They sent a clear message about the Palestinian determination to fight the occupation.
The ‘Israelis’ have to deal now with new waves of armed resistance operations carried out by this new generation in the occupied West Bank.
What the Tel Aviv regime feared the most is taking place right now. The recent operation in Shuafat tells it all when a Palestinian resistance hero opened fire from a zero distance towards the ‘Israeli’ soldiers, killed one of them and wounded two others. The importance of the operation is that it happened at a time when the ‘Israeli’ enemy was at the highest state of readiness, yet the resistance group succeeded to break through all its high security measures.
The ‘Israeli’ soldiers at the point of the Shuafat operation showed a great deal of cowardice attitudes as they fled the scene to save their lives. They were highly confused and failed to target the perpetrator who fled the place safely.
This new development is very alarming to the ‘Israeli’ occupiers on many levels. On the contrary, it is very promising to Palestine and its people. The flag of liberation will always be higher and will definitely be handed in from one generation to the other until the complete liberation, which will definitely happen sooner than many believe or expect.
Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli occupation forces, including a doctor, while six others were injured during confrontations that erupted between the Israeli occupation forces and Palestinians following an Israeli raid on Jenin refugee camp.
Local media reported that the martyred man is the 20-year-old Matin Dababa from the Jenin camp, who was shot with a bullet to the head.
Israeli occupation forces shot dead on Friday morning the Palestinian youth, Mateen Dabaya, during a military raid into Jenin, occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/aeyObLbswU
Palestinian media sources confirmed too that Medical doctor Abdallah Abu AlTeen was reported to have been killed while he was treating injured civilians in the camp.
Videos shared by local journalists appeared to show Israeli forces shooting at ambulance crews.
Media coverage: "Israeli occupation forces open fire at Palestinian medical teams during the ongoing military raid into Jenin camp." pic.twitter.com/UUE9GpD4Sj
IOF’s raid resulted in the outbreak of violent confrontations, during which the occupation forces used excessive force.
Media coverage: "Palestinian freedom fighters continue to open gunfire at Israeli occupation forces during an Israeli raid into Jenin camp." pic.twitter.com/VxE0zdxf2N
Earlier on Friday, the state news agency Wafa announced that a Palestinian teenager had succumbed to wounds he sustained during his arrest by Israeli occupation forces last month.
Wafa, as well as the Palestinian Authority’s Detainees Commission, identified him as 17-year-old Mohammad Maher Ghawadreh.
Ghawadreh, who hails from the Jenin refugee camp, died while being treated at the Tel Hashomer hospital in ‘Israel’. He was arrested after he allegedly carried out a shooting attack on a bus full of Israeli soldiers in the occupied Jordan Valley, wounding seven, on September 5.
IOF, settlers assault Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah
Illegal Israeli settlers attacked late Thursday Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, east of occupied Al-Quds, and vandalized their private properties, such as smashing the windows of their vehicles, all the while being heavily protected by the Israeli occupation forces.
According to the ministry, the first martyr is Mahmoud Al-Sous, 18, and the second martyr is Ahmad Mohammad Hussein Daraghmeh, 19, from Tubas.
Mahmoud Al-Sous, being carried through the crowd in a sad farewell after Israeli forces shot him.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Saturday the martyrdom of two Palestinians and the wounding of 11, three of whom are suffering from serious injuries, after being shot by the Israeli occupation forces in Jenin camp.
According to the ministry, the first martyr is Mahmoud Al-Sous, 18, and the second martyr is Ahmad Mohammad Hussein Daraghmeh, 19, from Tubas.
PICTURES: The last farewell of two Palestinian teenagers, who were murdered by Israeli occupation forces' live bullets in Jenin this morning. pic.twitter.com/TrDWvZ825h
Local sources report that the occupation forces surrounded the house of Mohammad Abu Zina in Jenin amid the outbreak of violent confrontations between the Israeli occupation forces and the Resistance fighters, noting that helicopters were flying over the site of the violence.
The Al-Quds Brigades in Jenin confirmed, in a statement, that its fighters “are confronting the occupation forces inside the camp with heavy firing of bullets,” revealing that “a military jeep was directly targeted and damaged by a number of explosive devices.”
The Jenin Brigade said that “its fighters targeted sniper positions in the vicinity of the camp by firing bullets.”
After arresting the brother of freed prisoner Mohammed Abu Zina, the occupation forces withdrew from Jenin camp, according to local sources.
After announcing the martyrdom of two young Palestinian boys, the death toll from confrontations rose to four in 24 hours.
On Friday, Adel Ibrahim Daoud, who was 14 years old, lost his life to Israeli bullets to his head in Qalqilya in the West Bank. Another Palestinian teenager, Mahdi Ladadwa, 17 years old, was also killed in the confrontations which erupted in Ramallah.
On Friday evening, violent confrontations erupted between the Israeli occupation forces and Palestinians in the town of Al-Isawiya, occupied Al-Quds.
Local sources said that the occupation forces stormed the town of Al-Isawiya and deployed in its streets. The IOF fired rubber bullets and grenades to disperse the Palestinian who defended the town by throwing stones, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails toward the occupation forces. Palestinians also resorted to burning the occupation flag in a symbolic move to express their commitment to liberation.
The recent arrests came as a shock to Nablus locals, who took to the streets in order to protest the decision of the PA to target the Palestinian resistance.
Violent clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s security forces, this Monday, resulted in the death of a 53-year-old and represented a turning point in the relationship between the PA and the newly formed resistance factions inside the occupied West Bank.
On Monday evening the PA’s Preventative Security Service arrested two Palestinian resistance fighters wanted by “Israel”, Musab Shtayyeh and Ameed Tabila, in the city of Nablus. Musab Shtayyeh, the most prominent of the two, had evaded multiple Israeli arrest campaigns since June of last year. Shtayyeh also managed to escape an Israeli assassination attempt on July 24, which left three other Palestinian resistance fighters dead, after “Israel” had stormed the city of Nablus with hundreds of military personnel, including special forces units.
The arrests came as a shock to Nablus locals, who took to the streets in order to protest the decision of the PA to target the Palestinian resistance. In both Nablus and Jenin, the two locations where Palestinian armed groups have been the most active, armed fighters took to the streets to make announcements condemning the PA’s actions. Although the resistance forces in Nablus clearly stated that their guns were not aimed at anyone but the occupation, they stressed that their patience should not be tested.
It didn’t take long before young people took to the streets to burn tires in central Nablus and chanted in support of Shtayyeh and Tabila, to which the PA security forces responded with gunfire and tear gas. Palestinian resistance fighters also fired back towards the PA forces and it was later declared that a 53-year-old civilian had been shot and killed, the incident was blamed on the Palestinian Authority.
The images coming out of the West Bank have been striking; young men hurling stones at militarized vehicles, as Western-trained forces fire tear gas and bullets back, except this time the militarised force is not Israeli, it calls itself the Palestinian. To add insult to injury, it has emerged that the PA took the decision to carry out its arrest campaign based upon a request given by the Israeli occupation regime. Hussein al-Sheikh, the Secretary General of the PA’s executive committee, seems to be the source of the order given to carry out the arrests.
Right now, the PA has been put into its usual defensive mode, where it attempts to justify its actions and bids to convince Palestinians that its ‘Security coordination’ efforts are in the best interest of the Palestinian people, something that Palestinians see through. All of the explanations and excuses in the world will fail to cover up what took place this Monday. Just as was the case last year, when the PA’s security forces brutally beat the beloved activist, Nizar Banat, to death, after pulling him out of his home in front of his family. According to Amnesty International, it’s clear at this time that the PA failed to ensure accountability for the assassination of Nizar Banat and so it should come as no surprise that PA forces are sliding down a slippery slope into chaos.
Just as the United States and its NATO allies have failed to adjust their mindsets to the current era, so too has the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. We must recognise that we are now witnessing the era in which the expression of a new Palestinian generation is being felt; armed resistance factions are rising, an armed resistance populated – primarily – by young people between the ages of 18-25. When we break down what this means; it suggests that today’s resistance fighters in the West Bank were only small children when the Second Intifada was happening. The fighters in Jenin and Nablus today, fit into a trend that began emerging in the early to mid 80’s, when Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) cadres would organise themselves with modest means to fight the occupation.
The Palestinian resistance in the West Bank do not remember what it felt like to see the resistance crushed, during “Israel’s” brutal ‘operation defensive shield’ of 2002, they are not afraid and believe in victory. The biggest problem they now face however, began in 2002, following ‘operation defensive shield’; that is the CIA’s dismantling and reformation of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. Nobody likes to talk about this, but it is true and cannot be disputed, at the behest of Israeli, EU and US interests, the PA’s security forces were transformed into a Western-Jordanian trained and equipped “anti-terrorism” task force, designed to do the heavy lifting for the Israeli occupation army.
Since the end of the Second Intifada, in 2007, we haven’t seen the energized armed struggle that we see today in the West Bank and so the PA’s forces have been capable of performing their duties, with little to no pushback. However, it has been way too long since the Oslo Agreements and the rhetoric of the Zionist entity has transitioned back to that which it maintained during the 1970’s, regarding Palestinian self governance. Palestinians don’t see any hope for change and the PA is not making any progress whatsoever towards achieving any form of Palestinian statehood. The Palestinian bourgeoisie of Ramallah are happy living in their imaginary fantasy world and the PA has now absorbed the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). There has been no national elections since 2006 and the non-economy of the West Bank, which is completely controlled by the Zionist entity and Jordanian regime, is getting worse for the poorest in society.
The PA is now beginning to face its worst nightmare, the ultimatum that we all knew was coming at some point; they can turn their guns on the Zionist entity, or they can turn their guns on the Palestinian resistance and face the end of their power as we know it. There is no more standing in the middle, attempting to please the West by collaborating with the Israeli occupation forces on “security coordination” and playing the game of condemning Zionist atrocities, whilst begging on their knees for peace. The next chapter is going to be violent, now it is on those within that Fatah Party leadership to decide where the PA is heading and what side of the violence they are going to be on, because asking for peace talks is not going to solve today’s issues.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Six Israeli soldiers were injured in a bus shooting in Jordan Valley. (Photo: via PalInfo)
At least six Israeli soldiers have been wounded in a shooting on a bus in the occupied West Bank, Israeli military authorities said on Sunday.
The incident took place in the Jordan Valley, near the illegal Jewish settlement of Hamra.
According to Israeli military sources, two Palestinian young men shot at the bus from a truck and forced it to stop.
UPDATE: Six Israeli soldiers and one other civilian were wounded after two suspects opened fire on a bus in the West Bank earlier todayhttps://t.co/LpksfqJdGZ
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israeli forces arrested two suspects after conducting searches in the area.
A spokesman for the Palestinian political group Hamas praised the attack as “proof that all attempts by the occupation (Israel) to stop the escalating resistance operations in the West Bank have failed”.
Ram Ben-Barak, head of the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Israel’s Army Radio that Israel would respond “very forcefully”.
لقد مرّت الضفة الغربية المحتلة، خلال العشرين سنة الماضية تقريباً، بمرحلةٍ يصح تقييمها على أنها كانت مرحلة «موتٍ سريريٍ» على صعيد الفعل المقاوِم، وعلى صعيد أثرها على الاحتلال وقدرته على الاستمرارية والتمدّد في أراضي الضفة الغربية. لكننا نشهد، منذ فترةٍ، بشائر نهاية هذه المرحلة، ممّا يوجب النظر في التحولات التي تعيشها الضفة، ليس لغرض التحليل فقط، وإنما لِيبنى على الأمر مقتضاه للمرحلة المقبلة.
لقد تكوّنت قناعةٌ خاطئةٌ خلال الثلاثين سنةً الماضية عند شريحةٍ واسعةٍ من أبناء الشعب الفلسطيني، لا سيما من أبناء حركة «فتح»، تقول بأنه من الممكن استرداد بعضٍ من الحقوق العربية الفلسطينية المسلوبة عبر طريق المفاوضات. ولقد تكَوّن هذا الاقتناع بسبب مسار «أوسلو» الذي سلكته «م.ت.ف» بقيادة حركة «فتح». وتعدّ هذه القناعة وهذا المزاج من الأسباب الجوهرية لمرور الضفة في حالة «موتٍ سريريٍ»، إذ حرم هذا المزاج المقاومة في الضفة من قسم لا يستهان به من حاضنتها الشعبية.
ومثّلت حقبة محمود عباس ذروة مرحلة الموت السريري ، إذ غدا «التنسيق الأمني» الوظيفة الأولى لأجهزة سلطة رام الله الأمنية، فصارت حماية أمن المستوطنات والمستوطنين، والقضاء على أي فرصةٍ لمقاومة الاحتلال مهما كان شكلها، أهم إنجازات سلطة رام الله، لدرجة أنها تفوّقت على الاحتلال ذاته في تلك الوظيفة. لكن، نتيجةً لوصول مسار «أوسلو» إلى طريقٍ مسدودٍ كما كان محكوماً عليه منذ البدايات، وظهور نتائجه الكارثية في الضفة، وعلى المشروع الوطني الفلسطيني عموماً، بالإضافة إلى تحوّل سلطة رام الله إلى أداةٍ وظيفيّةٍ في يد الاحتلال، وذلك كمسارٍ طبيعيٍ لوجود أي سلطة حكمٍ ذاتيٍ في ظل الاحتلال كما علّمتنا تجارب الشعوب الأخرى، نتيجةً لكل هذا، بدأ في الأعوام القليلة الماضية ظهور بشائر تحوّل في المزاج العام الفلسطيني في الضفة. إذ بدأت الضفة باستعادة نفَسها الثوري بالتدريج، وبدأت الحاضنة الشعبية للمقاومة بالتوسع وعودتها إلى سابق عهدها تدريجاً، واتّضح هذا من خلال انتفاضات الأقصى المتتالية، ومن خلال عمليات طعن المستوطنين وعمليات الدّهس الأسبوعية تقريباً، والتي تصاعدت بعد ذلك لتصبح بعضها عمليات إطلاق نارٍ واشتباكاتٍ مسلّحةٍ، كان منها عملياتٌ فدائيةٌ وقعت في أراضي 1948 المحتلة. وعلى أهمية عمليات المقاومة الفردية تلك، إلا أن الضفة قد شهدت في الأشهر القليلة الماضية تطوراً ملموساً في عمليات مقاومة الاحتلال، إذ ظهرت مجموعاتٌ منظمةٌ تُحْسِن استخدام السلاح في ساحات الضفة، كانت طليعتها «كتيبة جنين» في مخيّم جنين، والتي شكّلت التجربة الناجحة الأولى، والتي تتكرّر اليوم في مدينة نابلس من خلال «كتيبة نابلس».
ولا يبدو أن هذه الكتائب الفتِيّة تنتمي إلى فصيلٍ فلسطينيٍ بعينه، إذ يظهر أنها تتشكّل من مجاهدين ينحدرون من خلفياتٍ فصائليةٍ متنوعةٍ، إلّا أن ما يجمع بين هؤلاء المجاهدين الاقتناع بفشل مسار «أوسلو»، وبأن سلطة رام الله باتت جزءاً من أجهزة الاحتلال بصورةٍ فعليةٍ، وفوق هذا وذاك يجمع بينهم إيمانهم بخيار المقاومة المسلحة كخيارٍ أصيلٍ للشعب الفلسطيني، يمكن أن يفضي بصورةٍ واقعيةٍ إلى دحر الاحتلال والتحرير. وممّا ساعد في تطوّر هذه الكتائب ونجاح عملياتها، كان عدم اعتمادها على الصيغة الهرمية في تنظيمها، حيث صعّب ذلك على كلٍ من سلطة رام الله وقوات الاحتلال ضربها والقضاء عليها، هذا بالإضافة إلى تمتّعها بحاضنةٍ شعبيةٍ أوسع، وذلك جراء التحوّل الذي حصل في المزاج العام عند أكثرية الشرائح التي كانت مقتنعةً بمسار «أوسلو»، بعد تبيُّنها عبثيّة ذاك المسار وعقمه. ولا يمكن فصل مجموع التطورات التي تشهدها الضفة في العمل المقاوم، وبشائر خروجها من مرحلة الموت السريري، عن السياق العام لتبدّل البيئة الاستراتيجية التي تحكم المنطقة، وأهمّها تراجع فعالية الكيان المؤقت عسكرياً، وذلك بعد إخفاقات معاركه التي خاضها منذ حربه ضد لبنان 2006 وحروبه التي تلتها ضد قطاع غزة من المنظور الاستراتيجي. فتراجع الكيان عسكرياً، بالإضافة إلى ما رافقه من تعاظمٍ في قدرات «محور القدس»، لا سيما فصائل المقاومة في قطاع غزة، قد خلق ظرفاً جديداً في الضفة بما يشبه شبكة أمان لكتيبتي جنين ونابلس. إذ بات الكيان يقيم حساباتٍ دقيقةٍ لتصعيد الوضع في الضفة، خوفاً من انفجار الأوضاع ودخول غزة على الخط. فقد كانت «كتائب القسام» ألمحت سابقاً إلى إمكانية دخولها على خط المعركة، في حال قيام الكيان بتنفيذ اجتياحٍ واسعٍ لمخيَّم جنين على غرار اجتياح 2002. هذا ناهيك عن الحديث المستجد حول وحدة الجبهات بين أطراف «محور القدس» في المعارك المقبلة، ولا بد أن توفُّر ما يشبه شبكة الأمان في الضفة، قد أمَّن بيئةَ عمَلٍ أكثر راحةً لكتيبتي جنين ونابلس.
ولا يغيّر العدوان الصهيوني الأخير في هذا الشهر ضد قطاع غزة على البيئة الاستراتيجية الراهنة، فعدم مشاركة «كتائب القسام» علناً بالقتال يعود لحسابات تكتيكية فرضتها طبيعة المعركة الأخيرة وأهدافها، وذلك لتحقيق الهدف المرجو بأقل الخسائر، سواء أكان في عدد الشهداء أم في البنية التحتية لقطاع غزة. يمكن إذاً القول بأن الضفة تَفتتِح مرحلةً مغايرةً لسنوات «أوسلو» العجاف، بسبب التحولات الداخلية الفلسطينية في المقام الأوّل، مع ملاحظة الأهمية القصوى للتحولات الإقليمية كذلك. وهذا ما يلقي على فصائل المقاومة في قطاع غزة، مع بقية قوى «محور القدس» عموماً، مسؤولية بناء تكتيكاتٍ مناسبةٍ لتطوير تجربتي كتيبتي جنين ونابلس الواعدتين، لا سيما أنه بات من الواضح تراجع فعالية قبضة أجهزة سلطة رام الله الأمنية في الضفة، مما يتيح فرصاً أكبر لإمداد المقاومين هناك بالعتاد، علماً بأن ما يلزم الضفة من حيث نوعية العتاد أقل بكثير مما تحتاجه غزة بسبب الفروقات في طبيعة الميدان. وفي حال تجذُّر تجربتي كتيبتي جنين ونابلس، وتطويرهما ليمتدّا إلى مناطق أخرى في الضفة، سيكون الاحتلال أمام واقع استنزافٍ حقيقيٍ مشكوك في قدرته على تحمُّله طويلاً، ليصير حينها الحديث عن إمكانية تكرار الضفة لتجربتي جنوب لبنان وقطاع غزة أمراً واقعياً، تلكما التجربتان اللتان أُجبِر فيهما الاحتلال على الانسحاب من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ من الأراضي التي كان يحتلُّها، وهنا تكون قوى المقاومة قد قفزت قفزةً كبرى نحو استكمال تحرير كامل الأراضي العربية الفلسطينية من رأس الناقورة إلى أم الرشراش.
وختاماً، أدعو المتشككين في واقعية هذا الطرح إلى العودة بالذاكرة نحو 15 عاماً، ويقارنوا بين حال فصائل المقاومة في غزة حين ذاك، وبين ما وصلت إليه اليوم من اقتدار، فهل كانوا ليتصوروا حين ذاك وصول فصائل المقاومة في غزة إلى ما وصلت إليه اليوم؟
We have a date with history and it is the liberation of Palestine today in the XXI century against the colonial yoke and anachronism called “Israel”.
Perhaps the end of hunger is the liberation of the world. Freedom is dignity and justice, there is no liberation with the injustice of hunger, hunger is savagery and slavery…The end of hunger is not in the universal human imaginary…It is a corpse theme and even laughable. There is an atheistic confession regarding the end of hunger in the world, anointed with alms, charity and philanthropy.
The liberation of Palestine is the liberation of the world
Zionism is a Eurocentric fascist movement and today it is the engine of imperial inhumanity and is the very normalization of fascism. Zionism is an enemy of humanity that with its despotic supra-power allows it to mock and subjugate the world as the untouchable bearer of Peace.
Zionism operates among rivals, i.e. there is American Zionism and there is Russian Zionism, and there is Chinese Zionism. There is Zionism in its fascist nature and there is also Zionism operating on the left wing. There is Nazi Christian Zionism as well as Islamo-fascist Zionism and at the same time, it operates in the illustrious temple of art, academia and intellectuality: in multiple cases in the scientific and technological plunder, always in the financial, commercial and media mafia. Its hyperrealistic power seems surrealistic.
For decades Zionism has been one of the great articulators of the West in the macabre spilling of the blood of the peoples of Africa and Latin America for the plundering of their natural resources.
In 1948, the Euro-Zionist movement succeeded in imposing a colonial regime in Palestine called “Israel”. It was imposed on the basis of ethnic cleansing against the native Semitic Palestinian people. The wounded Arab world protested and the international Zionist power managed to conceal its barbarism, stating that they were Arab savages, anti-Semitic Muslims… Zionism is the perfect crime, the victim is guilty. Western egocentric gluttony ejaculates in its creative and illustrative ignorance: They found the land of love, sang Edith Piaf in tribute to the colonial regime of “Israel” that massacred the native Semitic Palestinian people.
Note
“Israel” that was imposed in 1948 in Palestine is a classic colonialism, a colonial anachronism and its parallelism with the classic colonialism is that it does not come from a country but from a European movement (Zionism), which seeks to create a nation-state. In this case, they use the Jewish religious doctrine (Semitic heritage), they falsify history, they allege that it is about the ”return” to the ancestral land (Indo-Europeans, non-Semitic Jews). And this is why we are facing a colonialism in which it does not only colonize the land of the people but steals, appropriates the history of the native people, and this is because it is a colonialism that does not come from a country but from a movement that seeks to be a country. Therefore it takes the history of the native people. “Israelis” are not “Israelites”. This colonial particularity of usurping the native Palestinian history, culinary and cultural expression, is part of the equation of extermination of the Palestinian people. The native Palestinians are not only expelled from their homeland but the enemy seeks to expel them from history.
End of the note
It is worrying to see today, how the tyrannies, neo-colonial Arab monarchies, in order to perpetuate themselves in power, are investing colossal sums of money in the falsification of Islam, in school education, in large international Islamic forums, to present this colonialism as an Islamic principle. Be careful with this.
The liberation of Palestine, that is to say the end of the colonial regime of “Israel”, is the collapse of the Arab dictatorships, whether they are pro-imperialist Arab dictatorships or anti-imperialist Arab dictatorships.
Behind the cruel US imperial invasion of Iraq was the colonial regime of “Israel”, through the Zionist Lobby, as part of the colonial expansionist project: “Greater Israel”, from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Today, the colonial regime of “Israel” is in possession of at least 400 atomic bombs.
The humiliating Oslo Accords in which a Palestinian elite groveled and were forced to abandon the armed struggle. By abandoning the armed struggle, much of the Palestinian imaginary was lost, we no longer speak of the Fida’i. It used to be said: To be against “Israel” is not to be against the Jews. Now it is said: To criticize “Israel” does not mean to be against “Israel”. Without realizing it, we are becoming Zionists. It is criminally naïve to believe in the existence of this colonialism.
Former Palestinian leaders gave up the armed struggle for the peaceful struggle that already existed, but a peaceful struggle has not been achieved either, since Western repression does not allow us to express freely or to express the essence of the Palestinian Cause. We have not positioned our own lexicon, under the pretext that we must be intelligent, strategic, objective, subtle, tactical. Although the Palestinians have become more visible in the world, this has not stopped Zionism from advancing its ethnic cleansing in order to make the Palestinian people disappear.
Yes, war is perverse, but pacifism, in some cases of a petty bourgeois humanism, demagogic and in other honest cases, has proved not to be enough to fight the most powerful fascism of today; on the contrary, it has facilitated its advance. Zionism scoffs at all the great denunciations made by great institutions of the world including the UN. We are contemplating history instead of provoking history.
No one has the right to impose which is the way to resist, the peaceful or the armed struggle, both are valid. Another element is to impose on us to recognize Israeli colonialism as an alternative for Peace. That is a trap. As a native Palestinian of the Diaspora, I do not recognize colonial despotism. The solution is Palestinian independence. Never expel any so-called Israeli, they were born there, that is their land, that is Palestine.
Israeli colonialism is not limited to Palestine but to the rest of the Arab-Persian and Kurdish countries.
The end of the Palestinian people would be the victory of fascist obscurantism, an attack against the rest of the peoples of the world. The peoples of the world will be weaker.
We have a date with history and it is the liberation of Palestine today in the XXI century against the colonial yoke and anachronism called “Israel”. We have a debt to Humanity and that is to extirpate colonialism from our contemporary history and to extirpate the most powerful fascism of our time. It sounds lovely to say this, the challenge is immense, we must stop self-censorship, under the pretext that we must be strategic. We must kick the table, educating the world about the just Palestinian cause and the danger that Zionism poses to humanity. That embarks deep determination and steadfastness, therein lies the beauty of being Palestinian. From our Diaspora they will come for us to ruin our lives, but to liberate Palestine is the liberation of the world. A more dignified and noble world is mandatory.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Palestinian freedom fighters open fire on Israeli occupation forces as they stormed Nablus.
Israeli occupation forces fire tear gas at Palestinian civilians.
Palestinian media outlets reported that occupation forces stormed Khallet Al-Amoud neighborhood in eastern Nablus.
Freedom fighters opened fire on Israeli occupation forces as they stormed the neighborhood, with local sources reporting confrontations at the entrance of Jalazone Camp, north of Ramallah.
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) June 14, 2022
After a series of storming, the IOF arrested a youth after searching his family’s home. Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent pointed out that the IOF arrested more than 10 Palestinians from Ramallah and Nablus, during a storming campaign, and reported that two Palestinians were shot by Israeli occupation forces.
The IOF also fired sonic grenades and tear gas at the people of Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood, in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Eyewitnesses said the IOF also set fire to one vehicle in Khallet Al-Amoud, Nablus.
#صورة شهود عيان برجحون قيام قوات الاحتلال بإشعال النيران في إحدى السيارات الموجودة بمنطقة خلة العامود بنابلس . pic.twitter.com/e4x5itone1
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) June 14, 2022
#شاهد .. قوات الاحتلال تطلق قنابل الغاز صوب منازل الأهالي خلال المواجهات المندلعة في حي خلة العامود شرق نابلس. pic.twitter.com/oqEjRL3QgE
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) June 14, 2022
For their part, Israeli media claimed that gunmen used assault weapons on Tuesday morning against Israeli soldiers in Nablus, pointing out that “activities” are being carried out in Ramallah, Beitunia, and Qalqilya to arrest suspects for “terrorist activities”.
Palestinian factions held an emergency meeting in Gaza on Monday night, discussing the Israeli escalation in the occupied territories, in addition to the deteriorating health of the hunger-striking prisoners.
The factions decided to choose next Friday as a day of popular protest against the Israeli occupation.
What took place between May 2021 and May 2022 is nothing less than a paradigm shift in Palestinian resistance. Thanks to the popular and inclusive nature of Palestinian mobilization against the Israeli occupation, resistance in Palestine is no longer an ideological, political or regional preference.
In the period between the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and only a few years ago, Palestinian muqawama – or resistance – was constantly put in the dock, often criticized and condemned, as if an oppressed nation had a moral responsibility in selecting the type of resistance to suit the needs and interests of its oppressors.
As such, Palestinian resistance became a political and ideological litmus test. The Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat and, later, Mahmoud Abbas, called for ‘popular resistance’, but it seems that it neither understood what the strategy actually meant, and certainly was not prepared to act upon such a call.
Palestinian armed resistance was removed entirely from its own historical context; in fact, the context of all liberation movements throughout history, and was turned into a straw man, set up by Israel and its western allies to condemn Palestinian ‘terrorism’ and to present Israel as a victim facing an existential threat.
With the lack of a centralized Palestinian definition of resistance, even pro-Palestine civil society groups and organizations demarcated their relationship to the Palestinian struggle based on embracing certain forms of Palestinian resistance and condemning others.
The argument that only oppressed nations should have the right to choose the type of resistance that could speed up their salvation and freedom fell on deaf ears.
The truth is that Palestinian resistance preceded the official establishment of Israel in 1948. Palestinians and Arabs who resisted British and Zionist colonialism used many methods of resistance that they perceived to be strategic and sustainable. There was no relationship whatsoever between the type of resistance and the religious, political or ideological identity of those who resisted.
This paradigm prevailed for many years, starting with the Fidayeen Movement following the Nakba, the popular resistance to the brief Israeli occupation of Gaza in 1956, and the decades-long occupation and siege starting in 1967. The same reality was expressed in Palestinian resistance in historic Palestine throughout the decades; armed resistance ebbed and flowed, but popular resistance remained intact. The two phenomena were always intrinsically linked, as the former was also sustained by the latter.
The Fatah Movement, which dominates today’s Palestinian Authority, was formed in 1959 to model liberation movements in Vietnam and Algeria. Regarding its connection to the Algerian struggle, the Fatah manifesto read: “The guerrilla war in Algeria, launched five years before the creation of Fatah, has a profound influence on us. […] They symbolize the success we dreamed of.”
This sentiment was championed by most modern Palestinian movements as it proved to be a successful strategy for most southern liberation movements. In the case of Vietnam, the resistance to US occupation carried out even during political talks in Paris. The underground resistance in South Africa remained vigilant until it became clear that the country’s apartheid regime was in the process of being dismantled.
Palestinian disunity, however, which was a direct result of the Oslo Accords, made a unified Palestinian position on resistance untenable. The very idea of resistance itself became subject to the political whims and interests of factions. When, in July 2013, PA President Abbas condemned armed resistance, he was trying to score political points with his western supporters, and further sow the seeds of division among his people.
The truth is that Hamas neither invented nor has ownership of, armed resistance. In June 2021, a poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), revealed that 60% of Palestinians support “a return to armed confrontations and Intifada.” By stating so, Palestinians were not necessarily declaring allegiance to Hamas. Armed resistance, though in a different style and capacity also exists in the West Bank, and is largely championed by Fatah’s own Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The recent Israeli attacks on the town of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, were not aimed at eliminating Hamas, Islamic Jihad or socialist fighters, but Fatah’s own.
Skewed media coverage and misrepresentation of the resistance, often by Palestinian factions themselves, turned the very idea of resistance into a political and factional scuffle, forcing everyone involved to take a position on the issue. The discourse on the resistance, however, began changing in the last year.
The May 2021 rebellion and the Israeli war on Gaza – known among Palestinians as the Unity Intifada – served as a paradigm shift. The language became unified; self-serving political references quickly dissipated; collective frames of reference began replacing provisional, regional and factional ones; occupied Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque emerged as the unifying symbols of resistance; a new generation began to emerge and quickly began to develop new platforms.
On May 29, the Israeli government insisted on allowing the so-called ‘Flag March’ – a mass rally by Israeli Jewish extremists that celebrate the capture of the Palestinian city of al-Quds – to once more pass through Palestinian neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem. This was the very occasion that instigated the violence of the previous year. Aware of the impending violence which often results from such provocations, Israel wanted to impose the timing and determine the nature of the violence. It failed. Gaza didn’t fire rockets. Instead, tens of thousands of Palestinians mobilized throughout occupied Palestine, thus allowing popular mobilization and coordination between numerous communities to grow. Palestinians proved able to coordinate their responsibility, despite the numerous obstacles, hardships and logistical difficulties.
The events of the last year are a testament that Palestinians are finally freeing their resistance from factional interests. The most recent confrontations show that Palestinians are even harnessing resistance as a strategic objective. Muqawama in Palestine is no longer ‘symbolic’ or supposedly ‘random’ violence that reflects ‘desperation’ and lack of political horizon. It is becoming more defined, mature and well-coordinated.
This phenomenon must be extremely worrying to Israel, as the coming months and years could prove critical in changing the nature of the confrontation between Palestinians and their occupiers. Considering that the new resistance is centered around homegrown, grassroots, community-oriented movements, it has far greater chances of success than previous attempts. It is much easier for Israel to assassinate a fighter than to uproot the values of resistance from the heart of a community.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 