Above photo: A Palestinian security officer fires tear gas at protesters in the center of the West Bank city of Jenin. Nasser Ishtayeh / AP.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) has initiated an armed crackdown against its own people in the occupied West Bank, a campaign reportedly backed and orchestrated by the United States. While corporate media narratives attempt to distance Washington from the operation, its roots trace back years.
On Saturday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas directed the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) to execute a large-scale operation targeting resistance groups in the embattled Jenin refugee camp. PA spokesperson Brigadier General Anwar Rajab justified the crackdown by accusing these groups of sowing “sedition and chaos,” portraying them as foreign-backed Islamist criminals.
The operation swiftly escalated, resulting in the killing of two Palestinians, including an unarmed teenager and a fighter aligned with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), who was a leader within the Jenin Brigades group. Accusations against the Palestinian Authority forces quickly mounted. UN officials condemned their actions, reporting that security forces had opened fire on unarmed minors.
PA forces were also documented using a hospital as a military base during the crackdown. From within the medical facility, they reportedly opened fire and detained eight individuals.
The Palestinian Authority has sought military support from the United States, specifically requesting armored vehicles and ammunition to bolster its forces. In response, Washington has reportedly urged Israel to approve the transfer of such equipment.
It’s a war zone.
The PA security forces (including the new S.A.T unit) have been waging a large scale military operation against Jenin refugee camp.
While PA spokesperson Anwar Rajab told reporters that this was an operation against lawlessness and chaos, it was clear that PA… pic.twitter.com/Vr4p0DGS52
— Mariam Barghouti مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) December 14, 2024
Ahead of the operation, U.S. Security Coordinator Michael Fenzel is said to have held meetings with the PA security forces’ leadership. These discussions reportedly centered on the planned crackdown.
Trained by U.S. and Canadian armed forces, the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) 2,000-strong 101st Unit has now been assigned the task of dismantling resistance groups based in Jenin. These groups span a broad political spectrum, from secular factions to religious ones.
In the wake of the siege on the Jenin refugee camp, which has resulted in the killing of at least four Palestinians, the injuring of several others, and widespread raids on civilian homes, residents of Jenin have begun staging demonstrations against the increasingly unpopular Palestinian Authority. Anger among the population has reached a boiling point, with many likening the PA’s actions to those of the Israeli military.
“The PA does not have bulldozers like the [Israeli] army does. That is the only difference. The raid is the same, the blockade is the same,” one Jenin resident told Reuters.
Mainstream media outlets, including the Associated Press, have characterized the crackdown as “an unusual step for the Palestinian Authority.” Other outlets sought to portray the resistance groups as Iranian-linked, attempting to paint them as foreign infiltrators instead of grassroots resistance movements in the court of public opinion.
Speaking to Axios, a Palestinian Authority official described the Jenin operation as an effort to prevent “a Muslim-Brotherhood-style or an Iranian-funded takeover.” The official further revealed that the PA had sought approval and guidance from the United States for the operation, submitting requests for “ammunition, helmets, bulletproof vests, radios, night vision equipment, explosive disposal suits, and armored cars.”
The Axios report also cited unnamed sources claiming that the Biden administration had urged Israel to release PA tax revenues to help cover employee salaries during the crackdown.
The United States had advocated for such a crackdown long before its recent implementation. In January 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Palestinian Authority to accept the so-called “Fenzel Plan.” This American initiative proposed the creation of a specialized Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) unit, trained by U.S. personnel in Jordan, to carry out precisely the type of operation now underway in Jenin.
The PA is there to safely return the settlers that stormed Joseph’s Tomb but are shooting at Palestinians in Jenin as we speak.
Amazing. https://t.co/3YKqxa1DWp pic.twitter.com/5XUvk0WAYx
— cheri 🔻 (@cheriblossom__) December 18, 2024
To advance this strategy, the United States facilitated a high-level security meeting in February 2023 in the Jordanian city of Aqaba. The gathering brought together Jordanian, Israeli, American, Palestinian Authority, and Egyptian officials to coordinate their approach.
A follow-up meeting was held the following month in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, where the same group of officials convened and issued a communique reaffirming their plans.
With Iran’s regional influence weakened by recent developments in Lebanon and Syria, and as the Israeli government advances plans to annex significant portions of the West Bank, the U.S.-backed strategy appears focused on suppressing Palestinian opposition to Washington’s agenda. Central to this effort is the use of the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) as a proxy.
The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a coalition of resistance groups, issued a statement condemning the Palestinian Authority’s crackdown as “a serious violation of all national norms and traditions … in line with the Zionist agenda that aims to eliminate the resistance in the West Bank.”
Initially concentrated in Jenin, the operation is now set to expand to other areas, including Nablus and Tulkarem. Its ultimate aim appears to be the total dismantling of armed resistance groups, paving the way for Israel to assert control over the northern West Bank without opposition.
Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47.